Code Geass: The Prepared Rebellion V2
by SeerKing
Summary: Imagine if Lelouch had prepared himself both mentally and physically for his war with Britannia. Lelouch X Harem.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass. ****Ichirō Ōkouchi**** does.**

"Kallen" Speech

'_Lelouch_' Thought

"{Die}" Geass Command

"**Halt!"** Loudspeaker

**Edit: 08/09/14 - Minor corrections made.**

**Prologue**

**Year 2010 A.T.B, (1955 A.D.) May 10****th****, Undisclosed location, Japan**

Lelouch Lamperouge, formerly known as His Highness Lelouch vi Britannia, Eleventh Prince of The Holy Britannian Empire and Seventeenth in line for the throne, sat scowling at his feet.

Off to his left, some Japanese soldiers were cremating the remains of some of their fallen brethren, saluting to respect them and their sacrifice.

'_A single month._' Lelouch thought darkly, '_In only a single month, my former homeland has forced Japan to surrender itself. Incredible. These third-generation Knightmare Frames, the 'Glasgow', must be very powerful to accomplish this._'

Most people would be surprised by such dark and mature thoughts from Lelouch, considering he is only ten years old, but Lelouch is no ordinary child. Raised in the Aries Villa alongside his half-siblings, he was taught the basics of ruling, in case he was the one to make it to the throne, he proved himself to be a veritable genius, surpassed only by his elder brother, Prince Schneizel, in his ability to grasp even the advanced and convoluted theories of politics and of warfare.

In addition, he was far more mature than most children of his age due to the tragedies he has endured. His mother, Marianne vi Britannia, had been brutally murdered by a withering hail of gunfire right in front of him. His younger sister, Nunnally, had been caught in the crossfire.

Although his mothers' last act had been to shield most of her with her body, Nunnally had been shot in the legs, crippling her.

The trauma from the death of her mother had robbed Nunnally of her sight ever since.

Lelouch had demanded a reason from his father, Charles zi Britannia, the Emperor, as to why terrorists, whom it was supposed by all had committed the murder, had been allowed to get into the inner gardens of the Aries Villa, where they then shot through a series of windows to kill his mother as she was walking down a flight of stairs, and had escaped, both unmolested and unfound!

In response, Charles disowned both Lelouch and Nunnally, and sent them to Japan as political hostages. "So you may be of some use, as weak as you both are." as his former father had put it.

And now this. An invasion, which gave the Japanese people carte blanche to kill them. The two children of Marianne had been truly abandoned by both their family and country.

Lelouch's scowl deepened. He had been forced to use his intellect to save his own life, as well as Suzaku Kururugi's life, once already, when the Japanese Colonel, Kyoshiro Todoh, had threatened to kill him and Nunnally.

Lelouch knew that Todoh had spared him only because he had been a temporary student of his during his stay at the Kururugi household, and knew how much Lelouch himself despised his former country. The next assassin would not be as forgiving.

He and Nunnally would have to disappear, and soon. Lelouch already had a plan in the works that assured a successful hiding place for the foreseeable future. Nunnally was resting at the moment, but they would set off for Tokyo in the morning, to enact the first stage of his plan.

Lelouch glanced to the side at Suzaku. His brother-in-all-but-blood was quiet and seemed to be brooding, much as Lelouch was. Suzaku's father, Genbu Kururugi, had been the Prime Minister of Japan, thus why the two royal exiles had been staying with them.

When Japan was invaded, Genbu had committed ritual suicide. That had thrown the country's command structure into disarray and, with only a single victory against the rampaging Britannian forces at Itsukushima, the remaining politicians had folded like a house of cards.

Suzaku had been devastated by his father's death, and only the need to protect Nunnally had helped the boy recover somewhat from the shell-like being he had turned into following his father's death.

"I swear, Suzaku." Lelouch spoke, anger filling his voice as he stood.

Suzaku looked up and stared at his friend warily.

"I swear, someday, somehow, I _will_ destroy Britannia!" Lelouch said, determination etching his face and body.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Next Chapter: Chapter One: The Day the Demon was Born**


	2. The Day the Demon was Born

**Authors Note: Wow. 502 views in four days. I'm quite surprised and grateful. I would also like to thank my five reviewers-Other Personalities, Gur4goku, Phantom Dark-Knight, BigBossVince and Rei Rusuragi for their support. Well, that's enough from me. On with the fic!**

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**Disclaimer: If I owned Code Geass, Suzaku would not be an Idealistic Emo.**

"Kallen" Speech

'_Lelouch_' Thought/mental communication

"{Die}" Geass Command

"**Halt!****"** Loudspeaker

**Chapter One-The Day the Demon was Born.**

**Year 2017 A.T.B (1962 A.D.), A room in The Tokyo Britannian Settlement, Area Eleven, Formally Japan **

Lelouch Lamperouge moved his knight to it's destination on the chessboard and said, softly, "Checkmate." to his opponent, a Britannian Nobleman who was as arrogant as he was rich. In other words, very, _very_ rich.

Currently, said nobleman was doing an excellent impersonation of a landed fish at his defeat in chess. It was hardly surprising, considering he himself had set a limit of 20 seconds per move to give himself an advantage against the man Lelouch had replaced, an old man who ran a costume business. This rule had in fact had contributed a considerable portion to his own defeat.

Unsurprisingly, it had only taken 8 minutes, 38 seconds to lay the pompous fool low, a personal record of his, according to his friend Rivalz.

After the wreck of a nobleman had paid him the money being wagered on the match (The Pride of an Aristocrat made him pay), Lelouch and Rivalz sauntered out to ride back to campus on Rivalz's bike.

On the giant outdoor screen, there was a report on the terrorist bombing on a lab the previous day, which was followed by an emergency broadcast by the Viceroy of Area-11, Prince Clovis la Britannia, Third Prince of Britannia.

Lelouch's eyes narrowed at the sight of the pompous ass who was his elder half-brother. Clovis was a fool, a coward and an utterly abysmal and lacklustre strategist. Lelouch had had to stop himself yawning as a child in the face of Clovis' boring and uninspired strategies and tactics with a chessboard, so he could hardly be better with troops and Knightmares.

After Clovis' 'charismatic and inspiring speech' was over, Rivalz and Lelouch were on their way towards Ashford Academy. While they were en-route, Lelouch considered the last seven years.

He and Nunnally had - after dodging yet another assassination attempt, this time by a covert Britannian Unit - been taken in by the Ashford group, his mother's old supporters and backers from when she had merely been one of many Knights of Honour, which was exactly according to his calculations.

On the run from both the Britannian Army and the Japanese Army, Lelouch had developed a fairly accurate picture of himself and Suzaku and had compared them at the Ashford's residence.

Suzaku was an average strategist, but was excellent at thinking on his feet and adapting to changing situations. He was also physically fit and possessed very high kinaesthesia, granting him excellent skill in martial arts. Suzaku's Achilles Heel was his overly idealistic, not to mention _naïve_ and _childish_, viewpoint, which restricted what he was able to doin strategy and tactics due to his own morals.

Lelouch himself was an excellent and (no false modesty) almost peerless strategist, being able to see all the possible moves an enemy can possibly make and when they can make them with little to no information. Tactics-wise, he was quite good, but tended to be nonplussed if something doesn't go according to plan. His own Achilles Heel had been his physique, which was underdeveloped, due to doing more sitting than exercise. Although there was nothing wrong with his kinaesthesia, he just couldn't move fast enough, or strongly enough, to make use of it.

Lelouch had seen the possible flaws and weaknesses inherent in his body and mind easily, and had (reluctantly) taken steps to avoid them. He was now moderately fit and healthy, thanks to a mildly rigorous fitness regime. Although he is no body builder, he could hold his own. He had also taken up the Japanese defensive art of _Aikido_, should the circumstances force a hand-to-hand fight. In order to maintain that health, he had taken up the art of fencing. Secretly, he had also taken up Japanese _kenjutsu_, and had maintained a high success rate in matches with both disciplines.

In order to offset his tactical inflexibility, he had read every book on strategy and tactics that he could get his hands on, from Sun Tzu to the memoirs of the Britannian commander of the invasion of Japan.

Of course, Nunnally had no idea about that, nor did she know about his gambling for cash that he did. Even if she _had_ known that he did gamble, she wouldn't guess _why_.

The reason he conducted high-stakes gambling, other than the pleasure of fleecing unsuspecting, and well deserving, targets, such as the nobleman this afternoon, was to build up funds for his eventual attempt to destroy Britannia.

It would, he reluctantly conceded, take quite some time before he had the perquisite funds for such an attempt. He had been doing gambling for three years now, since he was fourteen, and barely had enough to buy a black-market, outdated Glasgow Knightmare Frame, after money for living expenses, and several 'investments' were deducted.

At Ashford, he played the role of a likeable, social, easygoing person. He was liked so much that there were actually cheers when Milly Ashford, the current Student Council President, strong-armed him into the role of Student Council Vice-President almost as soon as he entered the High School Division.

Almost every girl at Ashford seemed to have a crush on him, so he turned into a veritable Ice Prince when they attempted to get close to him, much to their dismay, although some of them seemed to get excited for some strange reason when he did reject them, squealing in delight at how 'cool and distant' he was.

No one ever suspected he was wearing a mask - a mask of lies. Lelouch sighed to himself as he considered the web of lies he had constructed to protect himself and Nunnally. The only people who knew the _real_ him were Milly, Sayoko Shinozaki, Nunnally's personal maid and guard, as well as his Aikido and Kenjutsu instructor, and himself.

Being popular was _exhausting_, both physically and mentally. Just about all that got him through each day was seeing his little sister happy, alive and _not_ being used as a tool of diplomacy.

'_Even in my despair, it appears like I cannot give up._' Lelouch mused to himself sardonically.

Lelouch was jarred from his contemplation in the sidecar of Rivalz's bike by the sound of a horn blaring immediately behind them. Lelouch cranked his neck around to see a very non-descript truck right on their tail. The driver, a male Japanese man, looked very irate and stressed. His companion, a female, was trying to calm him down, but he seemed to have had the final straw at being blocked by a pair of school kids on a motorbike.

"Whoa!" Rivalz yelped as the truck drew too close, forcing poor Rivalz to dodge to the right, while the truck went along a route marked off for construction as it led into the Shinjuku Ghetto. It crashed into the entrance of the tunnel as Lelouch watched with wide, shocked eyes.

'_It was partially their fault for being so damn close to us, but Rivalz is equally to blame for going so slow on a freeway._' Lelouch thought as the bike screeched to a halt, Rivalz gasping at the close call he had just avoided.

Lelouch noticed people stopping their cars and gawking at the crashed truck. They were taking photographs with their camera phones and gossiping with each other.

'_The herd gathers to watch, yet do nothing._' Lelouch thought with contempt as he got out of the sidecar and took off his helmet. '_I will __**not**__ be like them!_'

Resolute, he made his way down, ignoring the catcalls from the crowd and the yells of Rivalz that there was only ten minutes until their next class.

He would help these people, damn it, even if they _were_ partly responsible for the crash!

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**In the Truck's cab**

Kallen Kōzuki groaned as she recovered from the crash that her partner, Nagata, had partially caused. The rest of the fault went to those damn Britannian brats in the motorcycle for not reacting fast enough!

"Nagata! Nagata!" Kallen called over to the stunned man.

The man groaned in response before shaking his head and cracking open an eyelid.

"Well, we can't be dead, otherwise I wouldn't have whiplash." he mused aloud.

Kallen rolled her eyes at her companion's lackadaisical comment.

"Nagata! We have to get out of here! Move it! Now!" she hissed at the man, who nodded and reached for the gear lever.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Outside and on top of the Truck**

Lelouch was climbing the ladder set on the middle of the truck, seeing as the cab was cut off from casual approach by metal girders. He was becoming concerned by the lack of cries of pain or for help.

"Hello? Are you alright in there?" He called once he reached the open hatch at the top.

Suddenly, his body was tingling. His senses were hyperactive and his heart skipped a beat. What was going on? He could swear he heard a female voice then.

'_It's you! I've finally found my…._' The voice cut off and the strange sensation with it. Just what the hell was going on with this truck?

Lelouch was having second thoughts about helping the truck drivers when the truck jerked backwards in reverse, causing him to fall into the truck, through the open hatch.

He recovered and landed, crouched on one knee. He tried to call out, to let the drivers know there was someone in the back, but the breath was driven from him before he could do so by being slammed into whatever it was that the truck was carrying.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

In the distance, Rivalz gaped at the sight of his friend being carried off by a truck. "Soooo….would you call that a hit and run?" he wondered aloud. He couldn't go after them, as stopping that sudden stop had fried the circuits somehow, as well as cutting the fuel line.

He just hoped Lelouch would make it out of this in one piece, because Rivalz had a bad feeling about this.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Inside the truck**

"If they put a ladder on the _outside_, you'd think they would apply common sense and put one on the _inside_ as well!" Lelouch muttered to himself as he sought a way out.

He was about to try and climb the spherical object that was the sole cargo in this section of the truck, when a voice from a loudspeaker ordered the truck to pull over. The next thing he knew, the truck was moving in one direction then another rapidly-a very poor evasion. On top of it all, he heard a rapid {PTNK}, {PTNK} sound and a [VOOM], [VOOM] sound outside Lelouch recognised -a VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) Gunship firing it's main machine gun -thankfully, only as a warning shot this time.

Rapid possibilities flashed though his mind until only one remained -this truck had terrorists of some ilk on board, quite probably one of the many anti-Britannian groups that Japan spawned like a nest of rats. The voice on the speakers warned that the next shot would be shot to kill.

Lelouch was paralyzed with worry-until he heard someone walking rapidly towards the compartment he was in from the cab!

Quickly, he took cover behind the odd spherical device just as the door opened.

Through it stepped a redheaded female about Lelouch's age. Her hair was held back with a red and black headband and spiked up at the sides. Her eyes were sapphire blue and burned with determination. She was wearing a blue medical orderly's vest that was swiftly removed that to reveal a vest-shorts combo in brown and red that highlighted a voluptuous, well toned figure. Lelouch had an odd sense of familiarity, as if he had met her before somewhere.

The girl spoke, presumably to the driver, "Can you use the Subway tunnel in the Azu-Bu route?" Her voice was forceful, determined and strangely melodious.

"Kallen! Why don't we just use _it_ here? Why not?" The driver yelled back. Lelouch had ice in his stomach as the probability of the _'it'_ they were talking about being the device he was hiding behind.

"Because that would cause a bloodbath!" the girl -Kallen- responded in an admonishing tone, as she climbed the steps to the next compartment. The driver grunted and admitted the truth of that statement.

Lelouch meanwhile was running through all the redheaded girls he knew called Kallen, as that nagging sense of familiarity was insisting he was at least acquainted with her.

He rapidly narrowed it down, since Kallen is not a common name, the same applying to red hair, to a girl in his class who was sickly, thus frequently absent for treatment: Kallen Stadtfelt, the only daughter of the Stadtfelt family.

Lelouch's eyes widened. The Kallen he vaguely remembered from class was quiet, meek and un-athletic, the polar opposite of this Kallen. Either he is wrong or the Kallen at school….is a mask.

Lelouch felt the latter conclusion to be correct; since it was the only explanation that accounted for the vague familiarity he felt when he saw her.

Now he had to hope that whatever it was she was doing at the back of the truck was going to stop the truck being turned into a burning wreck by the military.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Kallen**

Kallen booted up her Knightmare, an obsolete Glasgow painted crimson. She was an excellent pilot, despite not having done any formal training, yet she was well aware that the Glasgow was no match for the Sutherland Frames that had been introduced as Britannia's main-line workhorse, even with an excellent pilot on the side of the Glasgow.

She just had to hope that there were none nearby, or at least she could hold any off while Nagata got away with…_it_.

Kallen shuddered. Not many things made her shiver, but deadly poison gas? That certainly made the short list of things that did, another being the people who _made_ and planned to _use_ the infernal stuff.

She keyed the hatch open slightly via remote and saw three VTOL Gunships in pursuit-and that the lead Gunship was about to fire its main cannon for another burst!

Kallen, without hesitation, fired off one of her two Slash Harkens at the Gunship. It exploded in flames on impact. Kallen decided that now would be a good time to begin the diversion section of her job.

The Slash Harken had already begun to retract automatically, so Kallen merely burst through the doors and met it halfway, the Landspinners deploying with a flick of a switch, granting her manoeuvrability the VTOL's couldn't hope to match or track.

Kallen fired off her Slash Harkens simultaneously this time, winging one and destroying the other. Kallen grinned viciously at the destruction she had wrought. '_Even although killing these Brit Dogs will never bring you back,_ _it still brings me one step closer to fulfilling you dream of a free Japan, Naoto-Nii-Sama._' Kallen though as her Slash Harken retracted into their launchers.

"**The rest of you back off -I'll take it from here."** came a new voice from loudspeakers. Kallen quickly activated the Factshpere Sensor to get an idea of what was happening-and she paled at the image being displayed on the monitor.

A VTOL. A VTOL carrying a Sutherland. Not good. Unlike her Glasgow, the Sutherland was specifically created to combat other Knightmares as well as conventional tanks and VTOL's. She was screwed without the advantage an ambush would give her. Doubly so, since this Sutherland bore the markings of a member of the Pureblood faction, a radical, racist element of the Britannian Military that despised the 'Numbers', those who are the native residents of the Area's conquered by Britannia.

"**I can only assume you dug that obsolete relic out of some scrap heap."** The Sutherland pilot verbally sneered at her as his Sutherland detached from the VTOL and began to descend. Kallen fired off a single Slash Harken at him. He countered it with one of his own, deflecting it with ease.

"**An over the hill Glasgow is no match for a Sutherland!"** the Sutherland pilot continued to verbally sneer at her as he executed a perfect landing and took a battle stance.

"**Not to mention a filthy Eleven who spurns the compassion of out glorious Emperor!"** Kallen wondered if the man thought he was in an action film or something-he was certainly doing a long enough monologue to be a lead actor in one.

The Sutherland fired a burst from its battle rifle. Kallen avoided most of the shells, but one ripped through the Glasgow's left forearm, destroying it.

Kallen heard Nagata tell her he was going to split up to increase the chances of them surviving. She wanted to protest, but knew he was right.

She tried to fire the left Slash Harken, but it was stuck-and the Sutherland had deployed a tonfa-attachment for close combat and was about to strike her!

"**Second-Hand Junk!"** the man in the Sutherland before her sneered as he brought the tonfa down. Kallen did the only thing she could: She ejected the remains of the left arm right into the path of the tonfa, using the smoke from the resulting explosion to get away.

Kallen knew that she had to get away from the Sutherland and fast-or it was all over for her!

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Back in the Truck**

'_No signal for my cell phone, dark as night during the day and the roughness of the road surface indicate we are in the old subway tunnels._' Lelouch thought as he sat, one leg over the other, and waited for something he could use.

Shortly after Kallen had deployed her Glasgow, (He recognised the motor sound from seven years ago) he had discovered she had left a radio behind along with her presumptive disguise in her haste.

'_The driver's probably looking for an exit in the Ghetto._' Lelouch continued his calm thought process as he waited. '_On my own, getting out of here will be tricky….I'm not that big on the military, but I could hand this radio over and claim military protection…oh, no I can't -Clovis or one of his flunkeys might come and recognise me. Need another plan…._'

Alone in the dark, the exiled prince tried to plan for all possibilities. Little did he know, his salvation would lie next to him as he did.

**Time Skip ½ hour later**

"Whoa!" Lelouch said as the truck came to an abrupt and bumpy halt. "An accident, or…?" Lelouch wondered.

Suddenly, the side doors opened. Lelouch ran to one side to try to avoid being seen through the opening, but it was too late.

Despite Lelouch's effort, the masked Britannian soldier quickly over powered him and held him to the ground with a powerful one-handed throat grab.

"Enough mindless murder!" The soldier snarled at him.

"Wha? Wait, I'm…" Lelouch tried to get out before the choking hand clenched briefly, cutting off his air temporarily.

"Planning on using poison gas, eh? Stop trying to lie!" the soldier snarled.

Lelouch considered himself a fairly controlled individual, but he hated being accused of things he hadn't done. He always had.

"Get. Off. Of. Me!" Lelouch snarled back at the soldier and backed up his words with a swift kick to the soldier's midriff, which was dodged, to Lelouch's surprise.

"First off," Lelouch said as the soldier landed from his dodge, "I'm a Britannian, you can tell by my uniform. Secondly, I'm not here by choice." Lelouch strode forward a step, to show his Ashford Academy uniform.

The soldier stiffened at the sight of Lelouch in the light. "No way…" he breathed.

"If this is poison gas, the only people who could make it is Britannia! 'Mindless Murder', you say?" Lelouch said, anger and resentment at his former homeland bubbling to the surface. "Then simply obliterate Britannia!"

Then the figure said something Lelouch never expected.

"Lelouch…" The soldier pulled off his helmet to reveal a familiar face Lelouch had not seen in seven long years.

"It's me, Suzaku." said the boy who had helped him protect his sister from the invasion.

"Y-You became a Britannian Soldier?!" Lelouch said in shock.

"So? You're a-" Suzaku started to say, when Lelouch cut him off.

"No, I'm not! This truck crashed and I went to help it, then it drove off with me in it!" Lelouch tried to explain, only for Suzaku to raise an eyebrow.

"Considering how smart you are, is that really the best excuse you can give?" Suzaku asked. Lelouch felt like gnashing his teeth.

"I can't 'make up a better excuse' because that's what really happened!" Lelouch retorted as he rolled his eyes. "Argh! You really haven't changed a bit! Once you get an idea into your head, you hang onto it more tenaciously than Kaguya-sama used to hang off of me!"

All of a sudden, the 'poison gas canister' began to glow and emit light. Lelouch was suddenly tackled to the ground by Suzaku, who then forced his own gas mask over Lelouch's mouth and nose.

The sphere's four lids then popped open, and instead of poison gas, a girl appeared. Her hair was jade green and waist length, her eyes were the same colour as gold. She was dressed in a Britannian prisoner's straitjacket that left nothing to the imagination as it clung to her slim, lithe body.

She looked at the two stunned young men, before collapsing into an unconscious heap.

"That's not poison gas." Suzaku muttered, confused.

Lelouch nodded before forcing Suzaku's hand away from his mouth. "Something smells like a rat, and I don't mean the sewage pipes." he said, before getting up and moving towards the girl.

"Suzaku, be straight with me here," continued Lelouch as he undid the bindings on the straight jacket, "What the heck does a girl have to do with poison gas?"

"Hey, it's what the briefing said was in the thing." Suzaku protested as he leaned against the truck examining Lelouch and the girl. "Hey Lelouch, have you actually been exercising, or have you found a way to turn brain-power into muscle power like you told Todoh-sensei you would?"

"As a matter of fact, I have been exercising." Lelouch replied. "The last time I got involved with the Britannian military, I had to walk for miles carrying Nunnally on my back-I wanted to cover my weaknesses in case it had to be done again."

Suzaku raised both eyebrows at this. Lelouch had cordially detested regular exercise, deeming it inhuman and Spartan treatment and had called Todoh-sensei several rude and colourful names when forced to do so. For him to actually get motivated to do it….

Suddenly, bright lights flashed on and both Lelouch and Suzaku raised their hands at the glare from the light.

'_I have a bad feeling about this….._' Lelouch thought.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Time Skip-Ten minutes later**

In this particular instance, Lelouch wouldn't have minded being wrong.

The men with the spotlights had been low-ranking member's of Clovis' Royal Guard, who had wanted to kill Lelouch for 'discovering the prince's secret'. Suzaku had tried to stop them, only to get shot in the back by the group's leader!

Lelouch and the girl had only gotten away when the terrorist in the truck had activated a self-destruct and blown up the cab, covering the area with smoke. Lelouch had grabbed the girl and ran like the wind away from the Royal Guard.

It was irrational, Lelouch knew, to blame the girl. She was a prisoner and both he and Suzaku had stumbled upon her by chance. Nevertheless, he _really_ wanted something to blame right now!

His best and only true friend was dead, murdered in front of him like his mother. Another life lost. '_Another reason to crush Britannia!_' Lelouch though morosely as he led the girl up a set of stairs. He turned to her and indicated for her to stay were she was. Lelouch didn't know if she knew English or even Japanese for that matter, so he let the tone of his voice do the talking rather than the actual words.

"You stay here and be quiet okay? I'll check to see if the coast is clear." he said in a calm reassuring tone.

**Time Skip-five minutes later**

Lelouch was getting sick and tired of being caught in traps, trucks and by Royal Guards.

He had been caught as soon as he stood up straight, along with the girl. How embarrassing. The leader was currently running through a monologue about terrorists 'only being able to do so much, even Britannian student terrorists.'

"And now, my clever young friend, you have no future!" the man finally finished his monologue and began to raise his sidearm.

'_Is this it?_' Lelouch wondered as the man's pistol was raised and the trigger was slowly pulled.

At the proverbial last instant, the girl rushed forward and cried out, "NO! He mustn't die!" throwing herself in front of Lelouch.

The bullet struck her square in the forehead.

"Y-You shot her!" Lelouch exclaimed, stepping forward and caught her falling body on reflex and gently laid it on the ground.

"We were supposed to capture the female alive, but, oh well." The man shrugged, unconcerned by the death of his target. He tapped his chin with the muzzle of his pistol for a couple of moments, and then an evil smirk crossed his face.

"This is what the report shall say then: We, the Royal Guard, found and exterminated the nest of terrorists," he waved his pistol to indicate the warehouse they currently stood in, filled with the dead bodies of innocent Japanese civilians, including ten year old children, "But _unfortunately_, the female hostage had already been tortured to death. What do you think of my script, schoolboy?" The sneer in the man's words was all too evident.

Lelouch was numb. '_First Suzaku is killed, then this girl. And I am next. Before I have a chance to do a single thing with my own life. I' m sorry, Nunnally!_'

Suddenly, time slowed down and he seemed disjointed from his own body. His heart was racing, his senses on fire. What on…?

'_You don't want it to end here, do you?_' came a voice he recognised.

'_The girl…? Impossible!_' Lelouch thought in shock.

'_You appear to have a reason to live on. If you possessed power, could you go on? I propose a deal. In exchange for this power, you must make my one wish come true. Be warned-accept this Geass contract and you accept its conditions: While living in the world of humans, you will live unlike any other. A different providence. A different time. A different life._'

While the voice was talking, Lelouch was bombarded with images of strange things: a pair of planets, images of the girl, a battalion of androgynous people with an odd red mark on their forehead. Lelouch thought the girl sounded as if she knew precisely what she was talking about, as if she had lived the life she was offering him.

'_The Power of the King will condemn you to a life of solitude…are you prepared for this…?_' she asked.

Lelouch saw a final image- his hated parent, the Emperor.

"A convergence with A Ragnarok Connection…? So the myth is beginning once again…?!" he heard his father say.

'_He sounds like he knows what Geass is, meaning he has one!_' Lelouch though furiously.

Aloud he spoke, "Very well! I accept your contract -_and_ its conditions!"

With a jolt, he was back in his body, and seemingly not a second has passed, as the Royal Guard leader still has that arrogant smirk on his face.

Slowly, Lelouch stood up, one hand over his left eye. The Guard commander felt something…different about the boy, compared to how he was just a second ago.

"Say, as a Britannian who despises his own country, how should I live my life?" Lelouch asked, a hint of laughter in his voice.

"Humph. Are you some kind of radical?" the commander asked, raising his pistol once again-and then stopped. There was an aura of…intimidation coming from the boy, one that was very dangerous and made the man hesitate, which cost him his life.

"What's wrong? Why not shoot? Your opponent is 'Just a schoolboy.'" Lelouch mocked, "Or, perhaps you finally realised-The _only_ ones who should kill are those who are prepared to _be_ killed!"

Lelouch uncovered his eye at last. The colour shifted, changed and formed a red bird-like shape in the centre of his eye. Just looking into it made the commander unable to move, he could scarcely even breathe!

"W-What is this…?" He choked out.

"I, Lelouch vi Britannia, command you!" Lelouch declared, "{All of you-Die!}"

The bird seemed to flap its wings and then the commander, and the rest of his men fell into parade rest.

"Hehehehe…Happily, Your Highness!" The commander said, and pointed his gun at his jugular vein. The rest of his troop copied him. "Fire!" Ordered the commander and, as one, the Royal Guard of Clovis la Britannia committed Geass-induced suicide.

A small splash of blood hit Lelouch's face and for a moment, he looked appalled at the first lives he has ever taken.

'_My life is nothing but lies. My name, personal data, everything, lies, lies nothing but lies. I despaired in an unchanging world, yet could not, even with my lies, give in to despair. But now I have it…this…incredible power…it's mine…._' Lelouch thought as his horror-struck face shifted into an almost maniacal grin.

"Well then…"

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Next Chapter: Chapter 2: Contact is Made. K-1 and Q-1 join Forces.**

Authors Note: And that's a wrap. Now, some of you will be wondering about the harem. Three are definitely in: Kallen, C.C. and Kaguya. I still haven't made a decision about Euphemia yet. Should she go with Suzaku or her first love? I'll put a poll up for it. You guys can decide. The poll will come down on the 30th of September, so get voting!


	3. Contact! K-1 and Q-1

**Authors Note: {Blinks in surprise} Wow. Two thousand views? Gotta say, I was NOT expecting this story to be so popular. Annoyingly enough, for some reason, my underlining seems to have disappeared from the last chapter- dunno why. It's probably gone from this chapter as well. If so, I'll have to re-think a few things.**

**Now, I have been asked about the Harem. The confirmed members are: Kallen, C.C., Kaguya, Shirley and Millie. Euphy is undecided. I will not be adding Cornelia, Cecile or Rakshata. Sayoko is a possibility. I am surprised no one has asked about Villetta Nu though….**

**Anyway, enough from me. On with the fic! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass!**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 2-Contact is Made. K-1 and Q-1**

**Derelict Warehouse, Shinjuku Ghetto**

Lelouch knelt beside the girl who had granted him his power, Geass. He was slightly irritated, as there was no way for him to fulfil his end of the contract if the girl wasn't alive to tell him what her 'One True Wish' was in the first place!

Ignoring the constant booming in the background, he examined the girl closely and was startled to see the bullet hole in her head was smaller than just a moment ago, which should be impossible.

Lelouch's mind was racing, trying to join dots. '_The Lab bombing, the 'poison gas' cover up, the prisoner's outfit the girl wore, the rapid mobilisation of the Royal Guard, the attack on the Ghetto….Clovis, you are an even bigger fool than I thought._' he raged at his cowardly half-sibling. He could see the chain of events clearly.

Clovis had come across this girl, somehow, and desired whatever ability she possessed, whether it is regeneration or something more, and took her prisoner to find out how it worked. The girl probably refused to tell Clovis what he wanted to know, so he experimented on her to find out.

He had probably classified it top secret and had it mislabelled as something else entirely, creating a dummy secret project, presumably to create poison gas, to conceal it from his father as well.

Somehow, the terrorists had found out about the dummy project and believed it existed, so dug deeper and, through luck or skill, had actually discovered the location of the actual project.

Hopefully, rather than using the gas, they had intended to attempt a propaganda coup of some ilk, showing the world what a so-called honourable prince was cooking up. Not bad, as plans went, but they had failed to take Clovis' terror of being found out by the Britannian Homeland into account.

Not even a Prince was immune to censure in Britannia, especially if that Prince violates the International ban on the creation of chemical and biological weaponry, one of the few treaties Britannia has not broken. Even if he did tell the Emperor it was a cover story, the Emperor would demand full disclosure of the project in question as confirmation, meaning goodbye to any chance of gaining this girl's abilities.

So Clovis, the fool, dispatched the Royal Guard, along with some disposable Honorary Britannian Soldiers, in order to retrieve it. Lelouch was willing to bet that after the sadist of a commander had reported the capsule was open, Clovis had likely ordered the destruction of Shinjuku to cover his mistake-permanently.

Lelouch was disgusted by the lack of respect for life his brother was showing, although the tactician in Lelouch did acknowledged that the plan was simple and effective. By killing all of the inhabitants of Shinjuku, the girl would have nowhere to run, presuming she recovered and revived from her 'death'.

Suddenly, a Purple Sutherland loomed through the doors, its assault rifle held ready to fire. Its Factsphere Sensor opened and a moment later, a voice boomed out from its external speakers.

"**What happened here, Boy? And why is a Britannian student in a place like this?"** Lelouch was slightly surprised. A female Knight? While not exactly rare, neither were they common.

Lelouch activated his Geass and said, "{I order you to come out. At once.}" All that earned him was an angry demand as to who he thought he was to order a Knight around.

'_Interesting. It requires direct eye contact. This Geass ability seems to be far more intricate and tricky than I first thought. I'll have to be careful how I use it._' Lelouch thought as he raised both hands above his head.

"My name is Alan Spacer, my father is a Duke. My I.D. card is in my breast pocket. Once you have confirmed my identity, I will request your protection." Lelouch said.

'_A mere Knight will jump at the chance to aid a scion of high nobility, on the off chance of promotion to a Hereditary title. That ought to get her out where she's vulnerable._' Lelouch thought. Sure enough, the cockpit on the back opened and a silver haired woman descended on a boarding wire. She was a strong, fierce-looking woman in her mid-twenties by Lelouch's estimation. Her eyes were the colour of agate and her body was well toned and very voluptuous.

"Stay there! I'll take your I.D. out." She called as she walked forward.

Lelouch grinned. "Now, {you will answer my questions.}"

A red halo encircled the woman's eyes. She dropped her handgun and stood straight. "Of course."

"Who are you and what is your unit?"

"Villetta Nu, 8th Mobile Battalion, of the Purebloods."

"What is your mission?"

"The eradication of all Elevens and buildings within the Shinjuku Ghetto."

Lelouch frowned. Exactly as he had feared. He needed protection in this war zone. He focussed on Villetta again and attempted to input another command.

"{Hand your Knightmare over to me.}"

"Understood. The code is XG21G2D4." She then tossed the activation key at him, which he caught.

"My thanks." Lelouch said. '_So I can input multiple commands as long as I maintain eye contact? Logically, that would imply that it can only be used on a person a limited number of times, possibly only once._'He was about to break contact, when he though of a possibility.

'_One of the conditions for use of my Geass is direct eye contact, a tricky one to fulfil. To save having to risk myself in order to Geass numerous people, having a sleeper agent, unaware even to herself of her loyalty to me, would be useful._' he mused and then implanted a third command.

"{Whenever I say, 'By the command of Alan Spacer', you shall acknowledge it my calling me 'Master'. You shall then follow my every command, answer my every enquiry without question, and have no memory of the experience afterwards. When I say, 'Lamperouge Flash', you shall return to your normal self. You shall kneel on the ground for ten minutes from now, at which time you shall return to normal, with no memory of having seen or heard me.}"

"Understood, Master." Villetta replied, kneeling on the ground and falling silent.

Lelouch grabbed the strange Geass girl and lifted her in a fireman's carry. It would be stupid to leave her out here if she's regenerating, after all.

Ten minutes later, a very confused Villetta Nu was wondering where the hell her Knightmare was.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**A.S.E.E.C.C Trailer, Britannian Temporary Shinjuku Ghetto Command**

Suzaku Kururugi was lost in dreams of the time before the Britannian invasion, of when he spent time with Lelouch and Nunnally at the Kururugi Shrine, laughing and playing together, when a loud explosion force him back to consciousness.

"SO, are we having a bad day?!" came an unusually cheery and loud male voice from above him. Suzaku's eyes snapped open.

He was in a room, coloured in neutral tones of grey and cream. The source of the voice stood leaning over him, with a wide, childlike grin on his face. He wore large glasses, had short grey hair, and was dressed in a white, floor-length lab coat, with an armband.

Next to him was a woman wearing an orange-tan and black uniform. She had kind, pale blue eyes and shoulder length blue hair. She seemed to be holding something in a handkerchief.

"W-Where…?" Suzaku croaked out, his throat desert dry.

Nonchalantly, the man handed him a flask of water as the woman explained that they were still in the Shinjuku Ghetto, right next to Prince Clovis' G-1 mobile command fortress, so theoretically they were as safe as anyone could be in the ghetto at the moment.

Suzaku slowly drank the water with gratitude.

"You missed a chance to go to heaven, Private Kururugi." The man teased him.

Suzaku then noticed the bandages wrapped around his abdomen, as well as becoming aware of a minor pain where his kidney was located on his right hand side.

"This is what saved your life, Suzaku." the woman leaned forward and showed him what was in her handkerchief.

Suzaku's eyes widened. His father's pocket watch!

"You ARE lucky it was situated under your body armour at JUST the right angle to deflect the bullet." the odd man said lackadaisically.

"I can't believe my father's memento saved me…." Suzaku said, somewhat dazed by the revelation.

"You Elevens believe that gods live in everything, even inanimate objects don't you? Looks like this one was…oh, what is the name? Ah, yes! A so-called 'Shugo Seirei'? (Guardian Spirit)" mused the man, somewhat amused by the concept of sprits.

Suzaku then asked for an update on the situation in the ghetto and was horrified by the reply: a mass-slaughter of the inhabitants, due to the resistance fighters mingling among them (Or so they were told).

'_More lives lost, more senseless slaughter! Lelouch, I hope you make it out of this alive, for Nunnally's sake, as well as your own._' Suzaku thought in horror. '_Why are they resisting? If they just work within the system, no one need die! I don't understand them…._'

Suzaku was floored by the offer that came next: to pilot an experimental Knightmare Frame in order to bring a quick resolution to the conflict, once they had Prince Clovis' permission.

'_What should I do?_' Suzaku wondered.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Kallen**

Kallen was angry. Hell, she was absolutely _enraged_. Her people were being slaughtered like cattle, and it was partly her fault!

"Murdering Britannian bastards!" Kallen snarled as she used her Glasgow's one remaining Slash Harken to destroy a Britannian tank that had just gunned down a group of Shinjuku residents.

"_Kallen!_" Ohgi's voice yelled from her radio, "_Can the Glasgow still move?_" He sounded much stressed and panicky, not much of a surprise in this situation.

"Don't worry, Ohgi! I'll run decoy, you get everyone else out! The only ones to be caught will be us resistance fighters!"

"_It's not as easy as that! We're pinned down and they have us completely surrounded!_" Ohgi replied.

'_Please…if any Kami exist….make a miracle for us….I'm begging you…_' Kallen silently pleaded as she moved on to another target.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch**

Lelouch was frowning. He had just gotten off the phone with Shirley Fenette, a member of the Ashford Academy Student Council and the girl who had a 'secret' crush the size of the Britannian Homeland for him.

'_It would seem that Clovis isn't nearly as dense as I had supposed. A media blackout has been imposed, the only thing on the news, according to Shirley, that even mentioned Shinjuku was a traffic restriction, although by not mentioning it, it will be hard to justify this to the public afterwards, presuming he even considers telling the most remote truths about today._' Lelouch thought as he parked his stolen Sutherland between two buildings as cover.

Lelouch noticed a discarded chessboard lying within a house that must have suffered from a stray shot by a Knightmare Bazooka or an Anti-Knightmare SAM launcher, as it was missing most of its roof.

He retrieved the chessboard and re-mounted his stolen Sutherland. '_I'm hemmed in here, trapped in Shinjuku like the residents. It would be difficult, closer to impossible, for me to escape by myself._' Lelouch thought as he set up the board, with white to represent the Britannian forces and black representing himself. He completely discarded requesting sanctuary from the military-far too risky.

'_Clovis is trying to keep this as low-key as possible, so calling in reinforcements, whilst simultaneously keeping this under the radar, would be tricky at best._' Lelouch reasoned as he gazed at the lone piece on his own side, the king. '_This means he has to make do with the pieces he currently has on the board. Still, these odds are more than slightly against me. I need chess pieces._'

Lelouch could think of only one source of manpower: the rebels who had dragged him into this mess in the first place. It would be quite appropriate, in his opinion, for them to help him. The main problem is that they currently only possess small arms and a single fourth generation Glasgow, clearly insufficient against a division of Sutherlands.

'_Well, of all tasks, that is the most easily taken care of, considering that idiot Clovis ordered a train of Sutherlands sent in to reinforce his guard, but forgot to order Knights to accompany them, the moronic fool. More so that he did it over an unencrypted channel, the arrogant popinjay._' Lelouch thought as he began moving his Sutherland to the train depot.

'_Resistance fighters, I'll have you pay me back in full for getting me involved in all this._' Lelouch thought as he approached his destination. He didn't notice a pair of amber eyes regarding him from behind him.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

_**Time Skip, ½ an hour later**_

**With Kallen**

Kallen struck down another VTOL with her one remaining Slash Harken, when she heard a familiar voice chuckle from a loudspeaker.

"**Well, well, if it isn't our Glasgow friend."** Kallen paled at the knowledge of where she had heard that voice before and made her damaged Frame speed off. As she did, she saw in the rear camera that the place she had only just occupied had been strewn with bullets from an Assault Rifle.

"**You've led me on a merry chase, but no mere Eleven can escape Jeremiah Gottwald!"** The Sutherland carrying this Jeremiah Gottwald was in pursuit of her, another was on his flank. To make matters worse, her Glasgow's Energy Filler, the only thing powering her Knightmare, was down to a mere thirty minutes of power. Once that gauge hit zero, Kallen Kōzuki was dead.

Suddenly, her radio crackled and a voice spoke. "_The West Entrance! Use the tracks to the West Entrance!_" Kallen's eyes narrowed. She didn't recognise this person's voice.

"Who are you? How did you get this code?!" Kallen snapped at the radio. If this guy thought she was going to just trust a random instruction from an unknown voice, he had another thing coming!

"_It doesn't matter! If you want to survive this and win against these Britannians, you're going to have to trust me!_" came the reply, the voice sounding tense and matter-of-fact.

"To win….?" Kallen breathed out in disbelief. She had hoped to survive this intact, hoped to reduce the casualties her people were suffering, but this voice offered the possibility of winning?

'_If nothing else, it will give me time to strategise at least._' She reflected.

She leapt up onto the old rail bridge and made haste towards the west entrance, the two Sutherlands in close pursuit.

"Ok, what am I supposed to do now?" she asked the voice, getting more nervous as the Pureblood Knightmares drew closer.

"_Since you trusted me, you're going to win. Jump on the approaching train!_" the voice told her.

Startled, Kallen noticed a cargo train rapidly approaching on the same tracks she was running her Knightmare along.

"Right!" She affirmed and leapt atop of the train engine and then leapt to the end of the train, across the roofs of the cargo cars.

She heard Jeremiah Gottwald scoff as his Sutherland held the train back. She turned her Glasgow around in time to see the second Sutherland leap up, clearly intent on following her. She, and the Britannians for that matter, were taken off-guard by a pair of Slash Harken intercepting and destroying the Sutherland in mid-air.

All eyes turned to see another Sutherland in a building next to the tracks. Jeremiah spoke, his voice sounding angry.

"**Friendly fire?! You there, what's your name and your unit?! We're after the one armed Glas-"** Jeremiah was cut off by the Sutherland he was addressing opening fire on him and ripping off his Knightmare's left arm and leg in a hail of bullets.

Not one to not take advantage of a distracted and crippled opponent, Kallen yelled out a wordless battle cry as she charged the Sutherland. With a curse, the pilot activated the ejection system of the Sutherland and sailed off to safety.

'_I just made a member of the _Purebloods _recognise he would have been in danger and forced him to eject!_' Kallen thought, stunned at the revelation.

"You saved me!" Kallen spoke to the voice on the radio, not caring that relief was obvious in her voice. "But how in the world did you get your hands on a…"

Her voice trailed off as she noticed the mystery Sutherland had disappeared.

'_How the heck did he move away in less than thirty seconds?_' She wondered absently as she tried and failed to find him on her Factsphere Sensor.

"KALLEN!" A shout came from behind her and she turned her Glasgow around to see Kaname Ohgi, the man who took over the resistance cell after the death of her brother, run up to her followed by Kento Sugiyama, Shinichirō Tamaki, Yoshitaka Minami and Naomi Inoue, most of the rest of her brothers' cell.

"What was with that radio message earlier?" Ohgi asked, concerned about their security.

"**He called you too?"** Kallen spoke over the speakers, surprised at the fact.

"Yup. Yoshida's group as well, they ought to be here soon."

Ohgi's Walkie-Talkie then crackled before an voice spoke from it. "_Are you the one in charge?_"

Kallen recognised the voice: it was the same as the one that aided her.

"Umm…Y-Yeah" Ohgi's voce stuttered a bit.

"_Before I go on, I have a question. What were you going to do with that canister of poison gas? Were you going to use it?_" The voice seemed to drip disdain at the thought of someone using the stuff.

"NO!" Ohgi had a disgusted look on his face. "We were gonna show the world what Clovis was doing by hijacking the airwaves and showing them what Britannia is **really** like."

The voice chuckled. "_As I thought. In which case, I offer you the contents of that train. It has the tools for your victory._"

Kallen's sapphire eyes widened in shock when a train full of Sutherlands, at least twenty of them. The voice continued to speak.

"_If you want to use them to win, then follow my orders!_" Kallen was still in shock at seeing so many Sutherlands that were not enemies. '_Just what kind of person gives away Sutherlands like party favours?_' she thought, numbly.

"_Woman in the Glasgow! What is the status of your Energy Filler?_" the Voice asked her, snapping her out of her daze.

"A-About fifteen minutes worth." She replied.

"_Change out your Filler then, and standby. You will be running decoy. I'll contact you in ten minutes with your code names and instructions._"

The radio then fell silent. Kallen wondered what was going to happen next, since today seemed to be **full** of surprises.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch**

As Lelouch shut off the radio he had stolen from Kallen, he sighed, feeling the tension seep from his body.

'_This is a lot more tiring than I anticipated, mentally speaking._' Lelouch mused. '_But I must persevere. This game is one upon which I bet my life on._'

"Well now, this is interesting." A voice said from behind him.

Lelouch stiffened slightly, but other wise didn't show any signs of being surprised.

"Oh, good. I was wondering when you would wake up." Lelouch said, "It looks like getting killed takes quite some time for you to revive from."

"You figured out that much in less than forty-five minutes? You truly are impressive, for a boy." The woman said sardonically.

"In less than five minutes actually." Lelouch replied, "Now can I have a name to go along with your fair features?"

The woman giggled slightly. "Is it not polite to give your own name before asking for another's?"

Lelouch sighed. He could tell that this was a delaying move, but he could play along-for now.

"As I'm _certain_ you are aware, my name is Lelouch vi Britannia, formerly the eleventh prince and seventeenth in line for the throne for Britannia. Now, your name if you please."

"Call me C.C." the woman replied. "Do you like the power I granted you?"

"Geass? Yes, it is very useful." Lelouch replied with an almost maniacal grin. "It will prove very useful in my plans to crush Britannia."

"Do you actually imagine you can accomplish that, with just this power?" the woman -C.C. - asked. He could almost hear the eyebrow being raised as she spoke.

"With just this power, no. I'm neither stupid enough nor arrogant enough to believe that. With a loyal army behind me, however, I will crush Britannia, even if it means my death." Lelouch stated.

"Not before you complete your side of the contract." C.C. countered.

"Ah, yes, I've been wondering about that. Precisely what is your 'One True Wish'?" he asked, although given how evasive she was being, he suspected she would give him the run-around again.

"You do not need to know that. Just focus on remaining alive." was the reply he got. '_Just as I thought._' Lelouch sighed mentally.

"Fine then. I'm going to be devising a plan to use the resistance as a force to defeat the forces of my idiot brother, so keep it down." Lelouch replied, somewhat irritably.

As he worked on the plan, he considered a conversation he had heard on the encrypted Britannian radio half an hour ago, regarding the A.S.E.E.C.C. Special Task Group. They had been calling a 'Margrave Jeremiah' back to make use of the 'experimental Knightmare' he was supposed to use.

Evidently, he had refused, as there had been some background swearing from someone within range of a microphone before the signal was cut off.

Lelouch frowned. If there was an experimental Knightmare frame running around, it might cause some hiccups in his plan, so he had better have an insurance policy, just in case they found a pilot.

Two minutes later, he was ready. After telling C.C. to keep quiet, he grabbed the radio.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Kallen and the Resistance, 5 Minutes later.**

"Hey, are you really sure this is a good idea?" Tamaki called at Ohgi, who had just booted up his Sutherland. "They've all had their IFF Beacons (Identify Friend/Foe) removed! What if this is a trap!"

Ohgi rolled his eyes as he replied to his friend's concern. "Tamaki, Britannia has an overwhelming military edge here. There is no point in using traps or tricks with the superior firepower the Britannian army can bring to bear."

Tamaki grumbled, but shut up (Temporarily).

The radio in Ohgi's Sutherland crackled. "_P-1, are you ready to move?_" the voice enquired. The voice had called five minutes ago and assigned them all code names. Ohgi was P-1, while Tamaki was P-5. Most of the Cell was assigned a letter and number combination of P, B and N.

The only exception was Kallen, who had the code name Q-1. Ohgi surmised that it was to differentiate her from the rest of them due to her main duty of running decoy.

"_The Sutherland's controls are greatly similar to the Glasgow, so it should be fairly easy to operate._" The voice continued.

Ohgi grabbed his radio and spoke into it. "Can't you tell us who you are? At least your name!" '_Seriously, calling him 'the voice' all the time is getting awkward._'

"_No can do. What if the Britannians are monitoring this frequency? For now, my code name is K-1. Call me that if you wish. Anyway, if Q-1 is on schedule, two enemy Sutherlands will reach the other side of the wall in twenty three seconds. Shoot them through the wall._"

"Is this guy for real? He has to be nuts!" Tamaki scoffs. Ohgi, on the other hand, recognises complete and absolute belief in his own words on the part of the newly christened K-1.

"Everybody, double check your weapons and head to your positions!" Ohgi commands.

Tamaki splutters in indignation at this, but follows the others as they prepare to fight.

"Three….Two….One….Fire!" Ohgi commands. The seven Sutherlands with him open fire, shedding the crumbling concrete wall instantly-and the pair of Sutherlands who were moving to attack Kallen from behind.

All of the resistance fighters gape at where the broken bodies of the Britannian Sutherlands lay.

"Alright everyone! Looks like K-1's word has just been proven to be good!" Ohgi said over the radio, ignoring the grumbling of Tamaki. "Follow K-1's orders! Let's show these Britannians that Japan's spirit is greater than theirs is!"

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Next Chapter: Chapter 3: The Battle of Shinjuku. The White Knight Awakens.**

**Authors Note: Now, I know what you are thinking: 'What, the only twist here is Geassing Villetta and that's been done before!'**

**To be precise, She was completely Geassed in other stories. Here, she has a conditional activation.**

**Anyhow, read, review and eagerly anticipate my next release in (thinks for a minute) about five days.**


	4. Battle of Shinjuku, White Knight Awakes

**Authors Note: My oh my, over 4000 views. This is really surprising. My thanks, all of you.**

**I will take this opportunity to answer some reader reviews.**

**Anonymous Guest****: Yes, Lelouch will wield a sword. What kind? Watch this space… (His Knightmare won't have one though).**

**Jetsmillion:**** Lelouch prepared both his mind and body for his rebellion. He is less prideful and arrogant, is well aware of his limits and has trained his already sharp and insightful mind to approach at problems and other situations from multiple angles. As C.C.'s bullet wound was slowly closing up in front of him, a regenerative ability is obvious and why regenerate if the subject is not alive?**

**As for his Geass, see above. I don't know why he never tried multiple commands in Canon at that stage, but it would make sense to at least try the theory out in a (reasonably) safe pace as he was, and let's face it, Lelouch is very cynical. He would (or should) naturally suspect such a powerful ability would have demerits or limitations to it, thus leading to the possibilities inherent in conditional activations via catchphrases.**

**Please note, he still does not know how long the Geass will last on Villetta, nor his he aware of reflective surfaces being useful in either redirecting or nullifying his Geass.**

**Now, this chapter has a major divergence, or at least I would call it major myself, and frames a character in a somewhat better light than canon at this juncture. Now, let the fic begin!**

**Disclaimer: Code Geass isn't mine.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 3-The Battle of Shinjuku. The White Knight Awakens.**

**Prince Clovis la Britannia's G-1 Mobile Fortress, Shinjuku Ghetto**

Clovis la Britannia, Third Prince of the Holy Britannian Empire, Viceroy of Area Eleven and (in his own opinion) best dressed of the entire Imperial Family, was slightly surprised.

Sir Orion and Sir Valarie, two moderately experienced Knightmare Pilots (Knights), had just been caught by an ambush, necessitating them to eject.

In a military operation, this would not be any kind of surprise, combat being unpredictable. However, this was _not_ combat, this was 'urban renewal' (read: a massacre), so there shouldn't _be_ any casualties.

'_Tch. Must have been a lucky break for the terrorist scum._' Clovis thought, dismissing the ambush from his mind and made a note to punish Orion and Valerie when they were picked up.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch**

"An IFF can be a double-edged sword, can it not, oh brother mine?" Lelouch mused aloud as he watched the screen where the locations and ID's of all of Clovis' forces were displayed.

He had set up the chessboard and pieces to correspond to the number of forces available to both Clovis and himself. Clovis had the advantage in numbers, but was a very poor tactician and strategist, whereas Lelouch was at a disadvantage in numbers, but was the superior strategist.

Behind him, the woman calling herself C.C. watched him silently, analyzing him and his actions.

Lelouch activated his radio again, "P-1, P-4, P-7, move 100 meters to the right and fire your Slash Harkens at three o'clock." he called to the terrorists.

"Can you win this battle, boy?" C.C. asked, acerbically.

Lelouch resisted the impulse to reply in an equally rude way, instead replying politely, "As long as the terrorists follow my orders, the task at had will be completed. This battle would be meaningless, other than stopping a pointless slaughter, if Clovis were not here."

C.C. raised an eyebrow. "Is he your target then?"

"Indeed." Lelouch replied, "He will be both my first step on my path to defeating my father AND the first step on my investigation."

"Investigation? About what?" C.C. asked disinterestedly.

"My mother's murder." Lelouch replied shortly and got back to commanding his troops, harrying someone codenamed P-5 to get ready.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

In Shinjuku, a lithe man in a green outfit, wearing reflective shades and headphones, was stumbling along, cursing his luck at getting caught in Shinjuku during a massacre. His name was Mao.

He had entered Area 11 a week ago, suffering the constant chatter of the minds of the disgusting smugglers he had hired to sneak him in. He had scoured the city looking for his beloved C.C. and had yet to find her!

Mao _knew_ she had been in Japan just before the Britannian invasion, several people in the Chinese Federation had seen her purchase the tickets, he had seen their memories, so why had he not been able to find her?

He had been on the verge of giving up and returning to the isolated area of China where he had resided since C.C. had left, when a passing military man had been thinking of her.

Mao had covertly followed the man. Turns out he was a general called Bartley and he had been doing unspeakable things to his C.C.! The nerve of the man!

Mao was overjoyed to find out that some terrorists had managed to 'steal' C.C. from the Britannians. All Mao had to do was waltz into Shinjuku, where the truck had last been seen, kill the terrorists, grab C.C. and get out again. Easy, right?

Wrong.

Barely five minutes after he entered the Ghetto, it turned into a war zone! Mao was having a harder time finding the terrorists, because none of the residents seemed to know who they were or where they were. All the stupid _herd_ was thinking about was their own worthless lives, pathetic!

Mao stiffened as he felt the ground shake and reached out with his mind reading Geass. There! One Sutherland Pilot, a Britannian, as typically arrogant and self important as you can get, is advancing to meet up with another squad. He was about ten meters away.

'_Tch. Better stay hidden. Damn Britannians! Damn Elevens!_' Mao snarled in his head as he ducked behind a building. He would come to regret that action.

Ten seconds later, P-1, P-4 and P-7 hit the Britannian Sutherland with six Slash Harkens, sending it crashing into the building Mao was hiding behind. His scream was abruptly cut off as he was crushed to death beneath concrete and metal.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**The G-1 Command Base**

"Sir Henry, Lost! He reported before he ejected that the terrorist have more Knightmares, our own Sutherlands!" one of the Staff Officers reported, wide eyed.

"The enemy is advancing towards G-2-8!" Another reported.

General Bartley was sweating bullets. Three Knightmares down in less than five minutes? Prince Clovis was going to have his head!

"Send Glaube's squad!" he ordered hoarsely.

Prince Clovis, sitting on his throne, was stunned. "They have our military weaponry? How?" He whispered in disbelief.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Kallen**

"_Q-1, your target is on top of the building in front of you. Eliminate him._" K-1 ordered over the radio.

"Right." Kallen responded. She hated purely running decoy and had been about to complain to K-1 about it when he had told her he had a target for her to take down.

'_Was this just a coincidence, or did he read me?_' Kallen mused idly as she fired a Slash Harken upwards, to get her on top of the building.

Kallen had honestly been taken by surprise at the skill this K-1 was showing. The small resistance cell that her Nii-Sama had founded, and had passed to Ohgi after his death by that bastard Clovis, was running rings around a highly trained Britannian Knightmare Battalion, not to mention the tanks and VTOL units in support.

Kallen's Glasgow landed on the roof of the building and charged at the Britannian Sutherland facing away from her. It turned around, the Factshpere Sensor open and active.

A hard punch from her Glasgow's remaining arm shatters it and destroys the rest of the head. The Automatic Ejection System in the Sutherland activated and sent the pilot to safety.

Kallen grins and moves to her next point, as ordered by K-1.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**G-1 Command Base**

"Sir Glaube, Lost!" The same Staff Officer reports.

"Change our codes, they must be intercepting our transmissions!" Bartley barks at his officers.

"But we have sir, five times already!" Protests one of them.

"Well do it again!" Bartley shoots back. Mentally, Bartley is very much dumbfounded. How were the terrorists moving like an elite unit of pilots and making his own forces look like rank amateurs? It made no sense!

"This failure is totally unacceptable!" Clovis declares, rising from his throne.

"M-My apologies, your highness!" Bartley stammers out, nervously. He knew that those who displeased members of the Imperial Family rarely survived the experience with their careers -or their lives- intact.

Suddenly, a vid-call window opens up on the main battlefield monitor screen, displaying the face of Earl Lloyd Asplund, of the A.S.E.E.C.C. Special Task Group.

"Good Afternoon, Gentlemen!" the Earl greets the room in a loud, obnoxiously cheerful voice.

"What is it? We are in the MIDDLE of an OPERATION!" Bartley snarls at the man. Were it not for the fact that First Prince Schneizel had given the idiot Earl permission to act outside the chain of command, Bartley would never have let the fancifully named Camelot _near_ Shinjuku.

As it was, he had zero authority over them. Only members of the Royal House, such as Prince Clovis, could give them orders, and as he was commander here, they required his permission to enter the fray.

"I'd say it's time to deploy the A.S.E.E.C.C. Special Weapon!" The Earl said, brightly. '_As I suspected._' Bartley thought sourly.

"We have no time for this!" Clovis barked as he advanced towards the command table. "I will now take personal command of the forces stationed here!"

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch**

Lelouch watched as blip after blip disappeared from the screen, each indicating a lost unit, the last being a tank.

"R-2, fire anchor." He commanded, advancing a castle.

{Beep} Unit Lost. Bye-Bye, VTOL.

"B-7, use UN Ordnance." A Bishop was moved.

{Beep} Unit Lost. Farewell, tank.

"N-Group, continue your advance." A Knight was advanced forward.

{Beep} Four Units lost. Rest easy, Sutherlands.

Lelouch settled back and watched the IFF screen carefully.

"Now then, the enemy has five options. Their move." He muttered aloud.

"Which do you think will happen?" C.C. asked.

"If my idiot elder brother panics, and takes personal command, probably an en-mass attack. If not, a tightening of the encirclement and a slow, steady advance." Lelouch replied with a shrug. "I have plans to deal with anything either Clovis or his pet General can throw at me."

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**G-1 Command Base**

"Sir, we just lost Sir Lazlo's Squad!" came one of the latest of the many casualty reports.

"Grrr. No choice. Bring up Quincy's Squad!" Clovis ordered.

"But, Your Highness, that will break the encirclement!" Bartley cautioned his prince carefully.

"Reinforce the line with some of the units guarding me. A battle is not won by those who are faint of heart." Clovis dismissed Bartley's concerns firmly.

Clovis pointed at the display on the Command Table. "All we know for certain is that enemy forces are somewhere here. Surround their position and crush them!"

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch**

Lelouch was idly twirling the Black King piece between his fingers as he waited for the enemy to move. He raised both eyebrows when he discerned the meaning of the movements he was seeing.

"My, it seems Clovis has taken command after all-that is the stupidest move he could have made, out of all of his choices." Lelouch remarked as he grabbed the radio.

"Q-1, do you have an area map?" he asked his main decoy. Lelouch was very impressed with Miss Kallen Stadtfelt. She listened to orders, was an excellent Knightmare pilot and possessed a highly moral character. She also had a bit of a temper and was impatient, which is why he had assigned her to take down that lone Knightmare, to relieve her of some stress.

'_She reminds me of Mother quite a bit._' Lelouch mused. '_Although, Mother wasn't nearly as easy to read as Miss Stadtfelt is._'

"_Yes, I have a map of the old city, but it has no current landmarks._" came her reply, the frustration very obvious in her voice.

Lelouch smirked. Good. "That will do, now here's the plan….."

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Jeremiah Gottwald**

Bruised from his ejection, Jeremiah was taking a slow and cautious approach to returning to the G-1 Command Fortress. The last thing he wanted was to be ambushed by some Eleven terrorists.

Jeremiah sighed. Not for the first time, he questioned the path that had led him to joining the Purist Faction.

After the assassination of Empress Marianne vi Britannia, a woman who, despite being of common birth was the most gifted Knightmare Pilot in the Empire, on par with Lord Bismarck Waldstein, The Knight of One, The Strongest Knight in the Empire, Jeremiah, a guard in the Imperial Palace at Pendragon, had been in disgrace.

While he had, essentially, been persona non grata with the imperial court after Lady Marianne's death, he had still heard of the court appearance of her eldest child, Lelouch, and the subsequent action taken by the Emperor, not least of which was exiling them to Japan as Political Hostages.

If Jeremiah had had any kind of pull left in the Court, he would have applied to join the Prince and Princess in exile. To Jeremiah's mind, if whoever had assassinated Lady Marianne had the resources and political clout to slay one of the 108 Imperial Consorts, in the _Imperial Palace_, in _broad daylight_ no less and make an escape, there was no question that they could at least attempt to wipe out the vi Britannia line in a backward country like Japan.

Sadly, he had no clout and had been force to compromise his own morals by joining the so-called 'Pureblood' Faction, just to save his career. Their ideals were ridiculous. Lady Marianne hadn't been a noble, yet she had regularly trounced nobles in her Knightmare, the Ganymede, often three on one.

Their stance on the Numbers was, in Jeremiah's opinion, somewhat flawed as well. Yes, Britannia had conquered them, but that was due to Britannia's superior technology, not some divine right handed down from god!

He had also taken issue, in private and only to himself, with the Emperor's policy to do with the way Vassal States were treated. Stripping them of their governments, yes, their flags, yes, but their Name? Their very identity? THAT was too far. Lady Marianne herself had said that showing mercy was a sign of strength, so why try to crush them so completely as to make them virtual animals?

After the invasion and conquest of Japan and it's subsequent re-classification as Area Eleven, Jeremiah had transferred his unit there, hoping to find the last remnants of Lady Marianne. After three fruitless months of searching, the officials, by order of the Emperor, labelled both former Eleventh Prince Lelouch and former Fourth Princess Nunnally as dead.

Jeremiah had refused to believe it. He had seen the obvious intelligence of Prince Lelouch, as evidenced in his mastery of chess. He had always dominated everyone he played, aside from First Prince Schneizel, who was also extremely intelligent. If anyone could plan to survive a war and the subsequent 'peacekeeping activities', it was him.

As the years past, he had continued the search, albeit clandestinely. Just before this whole terrorist incident, he had been about to search the files on Britannian citizens in the Britannian Tokyo Settlement. He had previously ignored Tokyo, as His Highness Clovis would have recognised any noble who resembled his old chess rival.

Jeremiah had been horrified when he had read the briefing on this current operation. Terrorists with poison gas! The area it would affect was massive and the gas was very much in the fatal category. A nagging voice at the back of his head had questioned exactly where the terrorists had gotten their hands on it and exactly why only the Purists were mobilised to deal with it.

The pilot of the red Glasgow had been very skilled, shown by the fact that detonating an arm to cover a retreat was a very tricky manoeuvre and required a fair amount of skill to perform. Still, no Glasgow could go toe to toe with a Sutherland and come out on top without the advantage of surprise, so when he had found the Glasgow later on in the day, he had expected a chase and a kill.

What he had gotten instead was his ass handed to him. He didn't know how a terrorist could get his hands on a Sutherland -painted in the colours of the Purebloods, no less- but the entire left side of his Sutherland had been crippled very quickly, followed on by that Glasgow charging at him, ready to kill him.

All in all, Jeremiah was definitely thinking about upgrading to a Gloucester sometime soon, preferably before an enterprising Eleven shoots him. '_What a day this has been._' Jeremiah thought as he continued his march forward.

In the distance, he saw a column of Knightmare Frames and Tanks advancing towards an unknown destination. Jeremiah peered at the units and recognised them. They were some of the units assigned to encircle and blockade Shinjuku.

"What idiot ordered them to break the encirclement?" Jeremiah wondered aloud.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**G-1 Command Fortress**

Clovis sneezed suddenly.

"Are you catching a cold, Your Highness?" Bartley asked.

"No, I must be allergic to close proximity with these filthy Elevens." Clovis replied, before blowing his nose on a handkerchief.

"Moving on," Clovis said, after disposing of his hanky, "Send in Burtz and the others as well. The target is that central dot: Finish them!"

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch**

"Are all of you ready?" Lelouch radioed his troops.

A chorus of affirmatives came back at him.

'_Alright. Time for the second act to end and the third to begin._' Lelouch thought as he picked up the Queen piece.

"Begin Mission Number Three….now!" He commanded via the radio.

Mission number three was a very simple plan. All Knightmares enter the old subway tunnels with Q-1 at the rear. After a set amount of time, Q-1 was to turn about face and fire her Slash Harkens into the ceiling's support beam. That would cause it to collapse and cause the surface above it to collapse as well. In turn, the shifting of the under maintained road collapsing would start a chain reaction, reaching out in a wide radius, swallowing and crushing any and all Knightmares and tanks caught by it.

He had made the plan, along with several others, once the enemies responses had been reduced to the last five, but he hadn't expected to actually need to _use_ it, as no tactician worth the name would use an en-masse attack method these days. The last time that happened was during the time of actual Knights on horseback, for crying out loud.

'_Then again, Clovis did like his history. Along with painting, History was his favourite subject. Shame he never took to heart the saying 'those who do not learn from the mistakes made in the past are doomed to repeat them.'_' Lelouch thought with a shrug.

"With this, I call Check." he remarked aloud.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**G-1 Command Fortress**

{Beep} Target not found.

Clovis stared at the display in stupefied confusion. All of the forces he had massed had charged in….to see each other and no enemy.

What the _hell_?

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Kallen**

As the small column of Knightmares advanced, Kallen, last in line, watched a countdown timer reach zero.

'_Its time._' She thought.

Turning her Glasgow around, Kallen launched her Slash Harkens at the roof's support beam as K-1 had ordered, before quickly retracting them and beating a hasty retreat.

With a mighty crash, the roof collapsed, sending shockwaves across the entire area of the tunnel.

Above the tunnel, the confused Knights had stopped where they were, awaiting orders. Suddenly, the ground opened up beneath them, swallowing them and their Knightmares and crushing them in the jaws of the earth.

The collapse spread, swallowing Knightmares, Tanks and infantry whole, never to be seen alive again. Even buildings were brought down, smashing atop the remains of the weapons of war, creating a tomb of rubble for them.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch**

Lelouch was grinning like a fool. He had done it. Clovis had just lost over 80% of his combat capable forces to a simple trap.

'_I can do it! I can crush Britannia!_' Lelouch thought, allowing himself a moment to celebrate, then got back in the game.

"Right, now that he's lost most of his conventional forces, Clovis will undoubtedly commit the 'prototype Knightmare', whatever it is, and hope for a miracle." Lelouch postulated aloud.

"So then, 'General', what's the plan?" C.C. asked, humour laced into her voice.

"Watch and learn, immortal, watch and learn." Lelouch told her as he reached for the radio once again.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**G-1 Command Fortress**

Clovis watched in horror as almost all of the units under his command were destroyed in a wave of destruction.

'_J-Just…Just who am I dealing with here….?_' Clovis thought, panic etching his features, '_My God….What if he's better than Todoh..?!_'

While the Eleven populace revered Todoh as the Miracle Bringer, the Britannian forces called him The Phantom of Itsukushima's Miracle and reviled him for defeating a numerically superior force, without any Knightmares of his own.

The idea of facing Todoh in battle _terrified_ Clovis; the idea of facing someone who was better than Todoh in battle made him want to faint. Suddenly, inspiration struck the panicking Prince.

"Lloyd!" Clovis shouted and Lloyd's image reappeared on the main monitor.

"Yes, Your Highness?" the scientist nobleman asked cheerfully.

"Can your toy win?" Clovis asked.

"Oh, please, your Highness-call it Lancelot."

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**A.S.E.E.C.C. Knightmare Storage and Transport Trailer**

"**Z-01, Lancelot, Launching. Please clear the area!"** Cecily Croomey's voice echoed over the speakers.

As Cecily's voice blared out over the speakers, Suzaku Kururugi was getting suited up in a 'Devicer's Uniform' as Lloyd called it. The uniform was white, black and gold, padded in order to better protect against the Lancelot's rapid movement and the jarring that commonly accompanied it.

He had read the manual (most of it anyway) for the Lancelot and was more than slightly impressed. The Lancelot outclassed Sixth Generation Gloucesters, by about as much as a Sutherland outclassed a regular battle tank-totally.

The Blaze Luminous Shielding System was the main defensive array on the Knightmares arms and could be activated to shield the Lancelot from bullets, grenades, Chaos Mines, even close combat weapons like Stun Tonfas and Lances.

The Lancelot also featured an improved version of the standard Yggdrasil Drive, the Core Luminous, as well as a hefty amount of Sakuradite seeded throughout the Lancelot's frame, increasing its overall strength, agility and power.

There were only two issues Suzaku had with the Lancelot, as it currently was. The first issue was the lack of ranged weaponry, aside from the Slash Harkens, meaning Suzaku would have to get up close and personal with any enemy Knightmares in order to defeat them, upping the chance of an ambush.

The Second, far more pressing, issue was the lack of any sort of ejection system. Quite _how_ Earl Asplund neglected to design one into the Lancelot was astonishing to Suzaku, considering how Knightmares were originally a pilot ejection system in and of themselves.

Suzaku knew of the development history of the Knightmares, up to the Third Generation Ganymede, fairly well thanks to Lelouch. He would often reminisce about all of his mother's duels, especially the time she had defeated the Knight of One, Lord Bismarck Waldstein.

Hopefully, Prince Schneizel will grant a bit of extra funding to build a basic safety device like an Emergency Cockpit Ejection System, and relatively soon.

"_Have you read the manual?_" Cecile Croomey's voice came over the headset he wore over his right ear.

"Pretty much." Suzaku replied. All he had skipped was the part he was certain the Earl had added, entitled, "_Devicer Conduct and Proper Veneration Etiquette of the Lancelot_". He was pretty sure that was superfluous to requirements, so had ignored it.

Suzaku made his way out of the changing room and stood in front of the Lancelot. It was _magnificent_. The Lancelot's white and gold paintwork made it shine like a beacon, even in the Ghetto.

'_With this, I can end this slaughter. I can do it!_' Suzaku thought as Ms. Croomey talked in his ear about being careful in the field.

Suzaku mounted the Lancelot's cockpit and sealed the hatch behind him. After running preliminary start-up procedures, Suzaku activated his radio.

"Ms. Cecile? All systems check out all green on this end." Suzaku reported.

"_Roger. All systems green on this end as well._" Cecile replied. "_Releasing safety locks 1-16. Suzaku, you are cleared for launch. Godspeed._"

Suzaku inserted the activation key as he acknowledged Cecile. "Roger. Suzaku Kururugi, Z-01 Lancelot: Launching!"

The Lancelot exploded forward in a flurry of motion, Landspinners whirling, speeding towards the sounds of conflict.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Next Chapter: Shinjuku Checkmate, The Victor…?**

**Authors Note: Mao's cruel and twisted manipulation of Shirley during R1 made me so angry. When I started this story, I decided to treat him in the manner such a person deserves: as a minor, unimportant footnote, easily ignored.**

**If you are wondering, Mao focused his Geass on a single person, thus reducing his range dramatically, making him unable to 'hear' P-Group moving to attack Sir Henry. A naïve mistake that fit with his character. **

**Now, thanks to several requests, the harem currently stands at: Kallen C.C., Kaguya, Shirley, Milly, Villetta and Sayoko. Euphy is still being polled.**

**The only reason she is being polled is due to the whole incest issue. Personally, considering I read somewhere that such relationships were not exactly unknown in both the Britannian Imperial family AND the Real-Life British monarchy, it doesn't bug me much at all, but YOU are the readers. What you want, you get, so long as it meshes with my story.**

**On that note, there will be nothing in here from Akito, Oz, Nightmare of Nunnally or Suzaku of the Counter-Attack. This is because I am less familiar with them and thus less confident about writing about them.**

**This is me signing off. I am still recovering from the flu, so the next chapter will be released on the 1****st**** of October to allow me some time to recover.**


	5. Shinjuku Checkmate - The Victor?

**Authors Note: Now that I have (finally) gotten rid of that thrice accursed 'Flu, I had better upload this chapter now, shouldn't I?**

**In celebration of me recovering from my small illness, my muse went into overdrive, resulting in an extra long chapter!**

**Now, the Poll has closed, and Euphy is officially in the Harem. Many thanks to all that voted. If you didn't vote, please keep in mind that it was your decision not to, not mine.**

**I've been asked by Wolfblood123 about how long this story will go on for. All I can answer is that the story ends at the end of the Black Rebellion, timeline-wise.**

**That is not to say that Lelouch will succeed in the timeline of the first season. There will be a sequel. The title for it, I have decided, will be 'Code Geass R2: The Rebellion Reforged'. **

**Not bad, eh? I'll be giving Code Geass a rest and write a different fan fic after I finish this one though-so many Ideas!**

**Anyhow, enough from me read on and enjoy the fic!**

**Disclaimer: Me? Owning Code Geass? Nope, Sorry. Flattering, but incorrect.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 4: Shinjuku Checkmate. The Victor….?**

**With Lelouch**

"_K-1, this is B-6! I've spotted an unknown Knightmare. It's proceeding along the old main street, seemingly towards where Q-1 was last spotted by Britannian forces!_" came over the radio as Lelouch was waiting for Clovis' final gambit to be played.

"B-6, good work," Lelouch replied into the radio, "Description of Target?" B-6 was one of the scouts on foot Lelouch had deployed on the most likely routes to keep watch for the mysterious 'Prototype Knightmare', as it was unlikely an experimental Knightmare would have an IFF for Lelouch to conveniently track.

"_K-1, it doesn't resemble any Knightmare in the Britannian forces. It's about the same height as a Sutherland, painted white and gold. I can't see any rifle or bazooka….that can't be right. Who in their right mind sends a Knightmare into combat without weapons?_" B-6 sounded incredulous. "_Anyway, the body-shape is more streamlined than either a Glasgow or a Sutherland. Definitely looks like this is a new model._"

"Indeed it does." Lelouch muttered to himself before speaking into the radio again, ordering all scouts to fall back to their primary mission area, then called on P-1.

"P-1, evacuation status?"

Kaname Ohgi's voice came back over the radio, sounding tired. "_Almost all civilians have been evacuated along the old Subway tunnels to other Ghettos. There are a few who are refusing to leave, however._"

"Unfortunately, we'll have to leave them. Clovis has deployed his last card, and it's advancing towards the centre of Shinjuku as we speak." Lelouch told him, regret colouring his voice. He had ordered P-Group to aid the rest of the group in evacuating as many non-combatants as possible and they had exceeded his expectations.

'_Some people are just too stubborn to leave, even in the face of clear and present danger._' Lelouch bemoaned to himself. He hated the idea of sacrificing innocents to achieve his plans, but in this case, he might have no choice.

"_Damn!_" Ohgi cursed.

"N-Group, are you ready?" Lelouch asked. N-group was to ambush the Knightmare from concealed positions. The fact that the mystery Knightmare seemingly had no long-distance weaponry was merely an added bonus.

"_K-1, we are almost ready. Two more minutes, tops._" came the reply from N-Group's commander.

"You had better be, because in five minutes the new model will be in your sights." Lelouch told them grimly. "It appears to be unarmed, but all Knightmares have -at least- a pair of Slash Harken as basic equipment, so be careful. There's no telling what a Seventh Generation Frame is capable of, so inform me of any enhancements you discover and pull out when you feel it's gotten too dangerous. K-1, Out."

Lelouch sighed as he gently massaged his temples. He had run through the major possibilities of what a prototype Knightmare could possibly be equipped with, albeit with no data to base anything off of, and was daunted by the sheer number of options.

With the bare bones the appearance of the Knightmare gave him, he swiftly eliminated about 60% of the possibilities. This left four possibilities: Command, Defence, Physical Enhancement and Close Combat.

Command Enhancements were fairly unlikely, as even a buffoon like Clovis wouldn't sent a Command Knightmare out on it's own as this one seemed to be.

B-6 would have mentioned any blades or lances equipped to the Knightmare, so most close combat enhancements were out.

Lelouch paused in his thinking. '_B-6 did have a point. Sending a Knightmare out alone, completely unarmed is not usually even considered, let alone implemented! The only way it would work is if it had a combination of the last two possibilities: Defence and Physical Enhancement._'

Lelouch massaged his eyes and, with a heavy sigh, once more reached for the radio.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**C.C.'s Perspective**

The woman named C.C. watched the boy called Lelouch vi Britannia with narrowed eyes as he began issuing orders to the Japanese terrorists under his command.

'_Marianne's child,_' she mused to herself, '_He is _very_ interesting. Highly intelligent, yet keenly aware of his limits. Confident, without being arrogant. And….,_' she gave Lelouch a subtle once over, '_a strong, yet lithe, physique._'

C.C. licked her lips. Oh yes, Lelouch was a very interesting Contractor -for more than one reason. The immortal woman had been shocked when she had felt Mao pass on to C's World, no more than a mile away.

Mao had been one of her greatest errors and her new Contractor had dealt with him, although inadvertently, in less than ten minutes. That little fact, combined with the boy's obvious commanding aura, the purely physical attraction she felt for him and the fact she was a 700-year old virgin made him very attractive as a bedmate to C.C.

Once they made it out of this Ghetto, they would definitely have to have….a _discussion_.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Suzaku**

"This is the Lancelot," Suzaku radioed to the Camelot trailer, "I'm just about to pass the old Joen-ji Temple and head towards the Kogakuin University Building. Over."

"_Roger, Lancelot._" Cecile replied, "_Any sign of enemy activity?_"

"Nothing." Suzaku replied. "Just a few pot-shots from isolated terrorists. I'd guess that the majority of the residents have been evacuated by the terrorists while their main forces engaged ours, judging by the total lack of movement on the Factspheres."

"_I see._" Cecile replied, "_Still, keep alert. The enemy has the home-field advantage here._"

"Roger." Suzaku replied as he piloted the Lancelot around the corner and towards the Kogakuin Building.

Suzaku sighed as he thought about the report he had been shown on casualties during this battle. Losses currently stood at 79% of all Sutherlands destroyed, 55% of all tanks destroyed and 40% of al VTOL's destroyed.

'_How the hell did terrorists do this?_' Suzaku wondered, '_Not even the defeat at Itsukushima had these kind of losses, and that was at the hands of Todoh-sensei!_'

Suzaku was so lost in thought that he barely managed to dodge the first salvo from the concealed Knightmares.

"WHOA!" he yelled, making the Lancelot leap to the side in a graceful arc, avoiding the bullets. Suzaku activated the Blaze Luminous Shield mounted on the Lancelot's right arm and held it up to block the next volley from his concealed assailants.

"The Shinjuku Centre Building!" he snarled.

The Lancelot sped up to it's top speed, even as it continually dodged, blocked and deflected volley's of bullets from his unseen foes.

Suddenly, Suzaku spotted several falling objects dropping his way and magnified his view of them on his view screen.

Suzaku gaped at the computer's auto-identification of the objects: Chaos Mines. Each able to hurtle literally hundreds of needle-shaped pieces of metal at a target, they could _shred_ any Knightmare into scrap metal almost instantly.

He immediately halted the Lancelot and activated the Blaze Luminous on both arms, enlarged the shield's size to maximum, then braced for impact.

The Lancelot shook as the green energy field absorbed the combined assault of _five_ Chaos Mines, simultaneously. Gritting his teeth, Suzaku cranked up the strength of the shields from the standard 50% mark to 80%, the highest recommended output.

After what seemed like an eternity, the barrage withered, stuttered and faded to nothing. Suzaku deactivated the Blaze Luminous with a sigh of relief.

'_That,_' he decided, '_was entirely too close for comfort._'

"_Lancelot, come in!_" Cecile's worried voice sounded over the radio, "_Suzaku-kun, do you read me?_"

"I'm here, ms. Cecile." Suzaku responded, somewhat tiredly.

"_What happened? Our instruments detected an abnormally large drain on the Core Luminous that lasted about a minute._"

"I got ambushed by terrorist Knightmares. They attacked from the top of the Shinjuku Centre Building, so I was moving to take them out when they lobbed five Chaos Mines at me. I had to crank the power to 80% to withstand the barrage." Suzaku reported.

"_My word!_" Cecile exclaimed, "_The shield could easily withstand a couple of Chaos Mines at the standard setting, but five? Looks like Lloyd and I are going to have to improve the Blaze Luminous somewhat if this is the kind of punishment actual combat entails. What's your energy status?_"

"I'm still at 60%, so I'm good for another couple of hours." Suzaku said, after checking his Energy Filler Gauge.

"_Alright, Suzaku-kun, but please be careful. Whoever is in charge of these terrorists is no-one to take lightly._" she responded.

"Got it." Suzaku affirmed, before speeding off towards his original destination.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch**

Lelouch gave a small smile when N-Group's commander reported the abilities of the enemy Knightmare AND that N-Group had fallen back without taking casualties. Just as he had suspected, a Defence/Physical Enhancement-type Knightmare.

What both intrigued him the most and irritated him the most was the shielding system. Any conventional ambush, as had just been demonstrated, would fail against such a powerful defence.

'_Well then, an unconventional ambush it is._' Lelouch thought.

"Well done, N-Group. Fall back to the extraction point at point G-1." Lelouch told the terrorists. "Your job is done for now. P-Group, Q-1, B-Group and myself can handle things here."

"_Roger K-1. Good hunting_." came the reply.

Lelouch turned his head to look at his passenger with one eye.

"Considering what I suspect Clovis put you through, do you want to be there when I interrogate him?" Lelouch asked.

C.C. blinked owlishly at him for a second before an almost manic grin crossed her features.

"Oh, do I _ever_! That brat will regret all the things he ordered done to me!" she seethed in a silent fury.

"We won't torture him," Lelouch told her, sternly, "I simply refuse to lower myself to his level. You can be the one to kill him, but information can be extracted far easier with this."

Lelouch indicated his left eye, where his Geass had manifested.

C.C. pouted for a minute, and then nodded.

"Very well, boy. We shall do things your way." This simple sentence came out like blood from a stone from the green-haired woman.

They were interrupted by the radio squawking loudly.

"_K-1, this is Q-1. All preparations have been completed._" Kallen's voice sounded short and impatient.

Lelouch turned back and grabbed the radio.

"Very well. All units prepare to initiate Mission Number Eleven on my mark. Q-1, begin Mission Number Ten."

"_Roger!_" came back over the radio.

Lelouch grabbed the Sutherland's controls and began manoeuvring. He fired a Slash Harken into the ceiling before jumping out of the hole in the building he was in.

'_Well now, lets see our mysterious White Knight deal with this plan._' Lelouch thought smugly, as his Knightmare abseiled down the outside of the husk of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, otherwise known as Tochō -Tokyo City Hall.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Suzaku**

Suzaku caught sight of a red and white blur pass in front of him as he came up on the old Chuo-dori road and moved to follow it.

H moved in pursuit of the blur and finally identified it as an old Glasgow, presumably the one that had been running around before the ambush, since it was painted dark crimson.

What caught his eye though, was the oh-so familiar flag the Knightmare carried in it's only remaining arm: the _Nisshōki _-The Sun-Mark Flag, the _Hinomaru_ -The Circle of the Sun. The once proud flag of the nation of Japan.

'_Why can't they understand?! Japan lost!_' Suzaku thought morosely as he sped his Knightmare up in order to catch up to the Glasgow.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Meanwhile, with Kallen…**

In the screen displaying her rear camera view, Kallen watched the white Knightmare steadily gain ground on her tail.

'_C'mon, Ohgi, any time now would be good…._' Kallen thought as she tried to nurse some measure of extra speed out of her outdated frame.

Suddenly, the white frame behind her dodged a volley of rifle fire and a bazooka round.

"Ohgi! Were you waiting for an invitation or something!?" Kallen railed at her elder brother's oldest friend.

"_Sorry, Kallen. K-1 said to wait until just before he was within Slash Harken range._" Ohgi's voice was sincerely apologetic.

"Fine!" Kallen huffed, "But at least give me some advanced warning next time! Jeez."

"_Q-1, Proceed to Mission Area for Mission Eleven._" K-1's voice came over her radio, as cool and collected as ever.

"Do I _have_ to lose my Glasgow?" Kallen snarked at K-1, "It took me ages to engineer it and repair it to my specs!"

For all her ire and vitriol, she still headed towards her destination: The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

"_Yes, you do._" K-1 seemed to be unperturbed by Kallen's temper, "_If all goes according to plan, I may even replace it. For now, concentrate of evading that Knightmare!_"

"Roger." Kallen replied, still ticked off that she would lose her customised Glasgow, but somewhat mollified that K-1 had said it would be replaced if they made it out of there. A thought struck her as she coaxed more speed out of her Glasgow.

"By the way, where'd you get this flag?" she asked K-1.

"_A storage room inside Tochō. They always kept spares in there, just in case._" K-1 replied, giving Kallen something to think about.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Suzaku**

Suzaku cursed as the rate of fire from those thrice-be-damned concealed terrorist Knightmares increased yet again.

'_This Glasgow in front of me must have their leader as it's pilot! Why else go through so much trouble to defend a decoy?_' Suzaku reasoned as he swerved, dodged and ducked a seemingly unending deluge of bullets and shells from atop buildings on both sides of the road.

Suddenly, the Glasgow swerved abruptly to the left and shot off like a bullet. At the same time the constant barrage of weaponry that assailed him stopped.

Wasting no time, Suzaku sent the Lancelot speeding ahead and found himself at the foot of the old city hall, Tochō. Standing at the foot of the building was the red Glasgow and an additional Knightmare, a Sutherland in the colours of the Purist or Pureblood Faction.

[KABOOM!], [KABOOM!], [KABOOM!], [KABOOM!], [KABOOM!], [KABOOM!], [KABOOM!], [KABOOM!].

Eight almost simultaneous blasts went off, collapsing buildings into the street and obstructing the most accessible ways out.

Suzaku was dumbstruck. '_Damn it all! It was a trap from the very beginning!_'

The one-armed Glasgow passed the flag to the Sutherland, sped forward a few meters and then gave the Lancelot a 'Bring it on' gesture.

Suzaku considered himself an even-tempered man on most occasions, but this was the absolute limit!

"**First you make me chase you, then you barricade me here, now you insult me by challenging the Lancelot in a clearly inferior Knightmare?!" **Suzaku, enraged by the low handed tactics of his foes (as he saw them), shouted over the Lancelot's external speakers, **"You WILL regret that!"**

The Glasgow merely repeated it's 'come on' gesture.

"Rrrrgghh!" Suzaku growled as he threw the Lancelot into a headlong charge towards the Glasgow. Just before the Lancelot's fist impacted on the red Knightmare, the pilot ejected!

"Wha…?" Suzaku gaped as, unable to stop the Lancelot's forward momentum, the White Knightmare's fist smashed through the abandoned Glasgow.

"Damn it!" Suzaku gritted out through his clenched teeth.

On his main camera, the Pureblood Sutherland gave him an ironic salute, and then embedded the flagpole it was holding into the ground and sped off.

"Hold it!" Suzaku roared his temper completely on fire by this time. He wrenched the Lancelot's arm out of the wreck that had been the Glasgow and tore off in pursuit.

[KABOOM!]

The Lancelot shuddered as yet another bomb was set off, this time beneath the ground the Lancelot was speeding across!

Suzaku gaped as the across the entire plaza buckled, cracked and collapsed, rapidly approaching the speeding Lancelot.

Thinking quickly, Suzaku swerved the Lancelot towards the Tochō building and fired both Slash Harkens at the ledge above the entrance of the building, then leapt up and reeled them in, drawing the Lancelot away from the crumbling ground -and the fleeing Sutherland.

Landing on the ledge, Suzaku sighed in relief, but it seemed fate was not done throwing spanners in his works today, as he heard the oh-so familiar sound of chain explosions coming from above him.

'_Sweet Kami, NOW what?!_' Suzaku groaned to himself as he made the Lancelot look up. He went white with what he saw.

The two towers of the Tochō building were falling. Ripped from the main building by the explosions, they were falling. Not only were they falling, the explosives must have been placed in key positions throughout the towers' superstructure, both inside and out, in order to make them fall in the desired direction.

Precisely where Suzaku and the Lancelot stood.

"Even this was a trap…?!" Suzaku spoke in disbelief, "How could anyone predict such an unlikely place to be where the Lancelot would flee to after escaping the collapsing ground?! It's ridiculous!"

Suzaku spun the Lancelot around, to search for a way out of this mess.

'_Most of the ground nearby has been destroyed by those bombs, there are no other buildings to leap to within range of the Slash Harkens…..wait, there!_'

Suzaku saw that the explosions had accidentally opened the old Tochomae subway station tunnel.

Without hesitation, Suzaku made the Lancelot leap down and into the tunnel, just as the pair of falling towers smashed into the ground outside.

Suzaku gave thanks to all the _Kami_ for their protection, something he hadn't done since he was a young child, then focused.

"Now I have to navigate through a maze of dark, crumbling tunnels that may or may not be swarming with terrorists and-" Suzaku checked his Energy Filler Gauge, "-I have barely forty-five minutes worth of power left, thanks to those sneak-attacking terrorists. Oh, the joy."

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Kallen, Time Skip Twenty Minutes**

Kallen was running through the ruins of Shinjuku towards the extraction point, located in an abandoned warehouse near the old Tokyo General Hospital.

Her mind was racing as she thought back to the conversation she had had with K-1 after she had ejected.

_{Flashback}_

_Kallen's cockpit had just landed with a bump and she spent a moment mourning for her poor Glasgow. It hadn't been much, but it had been _hers_._

"Q-1, are you unharmed?_" K-1 had enquired over the radio._

"_Aside from a blow to my pride, I'm fine." She had replied, rather dryly._

"Good,_" He had replied, "_It's not much consolation, I know, but the trap worked._"_

"_Good." Kallen had spat out. Just thinking of the speed that white Knightmare possessed gave her chills. She had barely managed to eject in time._

"Knowing that fool Clovis, he's likely to order infantry in to slaughter any remaining civilians in Shinjuku._" K-1 had told her bluntly._

"_WHAT?!" Kallen had yelled in fury, "No, he can't! Order Ohgi and the rest to stop them!"_

"P-1 and the rest have already handed their Knightmares over to B-group and have reached the extraction point, and B-Group has left via the tunnels to your backup hideout._" K-1 had stated in a matter-of-fact manner, "_Don't worry, though. All tasks at hand have been cleared for the end of violence today. Head for the extraction point._"_

"_That's it?" Kallen had been incredulous. "You seriously expect me to just accept your word that 'something' is in the works?!"_

"You trusted me to direct you in combat._" K-1 had pointed out._

"_That's different!" She had protested vehemently._

"Because it was only your life I was risking, correct?_" K-1 asked rhetorically. Kallen had fallen silent at this, slightly taken aback at being read so easily by a complete stranger._

"I can assure you, I will succeed. I will not allow innocents to suffer at the hands of a power-mad fool._" K-1's voice had been as hard as bedrock, so much so that Kallen wondered who and what had managed to make this guy hate Britannia and massacres so much._

"_Alright, I guess I'll leave it up to you then, not that I have any choice anyway." Kallen had finally conceded defeat, albeit somewhat reluctantly._

"My thanks. Now, get to the extraction point, Q-1._" K-1 ordered, before he apparently turned his radio off._

_{Flashback End}_

Kallen hoped that K-1 kept his promise. She was responsible for too many Japanese deaths as it was.

She finally saw the warehouse on her right and slipped inside, finding the rest of her Cell, sans those assigned to N-Group and B-Group.

"Kallen!" Ohgi shouted, rushing over and hugging her. She hugged him back. Knowing that a close friend was safe was one thing, seeing and touching them was quite another.

"Are you alright?" Ohgi asked her after he released her.

Kallen rolled her eyes. '_Ohgi is so like Naoto-nii in some things that it's scary._'

"I'm fine," she told him, "I had to sacrifice my Glasgow to take down that damn white and gold bastard though."

Tamaki shot her a look of disdain.

"Hah! If _I _had been the Glasgow's pilot-" He began to say, when Kallen interrupted him.

"It would have been destroyed long ago. I can trounce anyone here in a one-on-one situation and you know it Tamaki."

Tamaki spluttered and gobbled like a strangled turkey, then shut up with a childish pout (Once again, Temporarily).

Suddenly, the door burst open and a squad of Britannian soldiers burst in, machine-guns at the ready.

The leader sneered at the group and raised his pistol to aim it at Ohgi.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" The man feigned surprise at seeing the group of Japanese civilians, "A little nest of _rats_, I see. As _any_ good homeowner knows, rats should be exterminated at the first opportunity!"

As one, the soldiers raised their weapons at the group in front of them.

Kallen, at the rear of the group, tensed. She knew that she stood no chance, unarmed as she was, against a squad of soldiers, but she was damned if she would go out without a fight!

'_Naoto-nii-sama…!_' Kallen thought of her brother as she prepared to do something, anything, to resist the soldier before her.

Just as the squad leader opened his mouth, an announcement over the loudspeakers made him gape.

"**Attention all forces! Cease-fire at once! I, Clovis, Third Prince of Britannia and Royal Viceroy of Area 11, hereby command you! All forces are to cease-fire at once! All destruction of property shall also cease! The wounded, whether they be Eleven or Britannian, are to be treated with equal care and all casualties shall be treated without prejudice. In the name of Clovis la Britannia, you are to cease fire at once! I shall allow no further fighting!"**

The Squad leader was flopping his jaw like a landed fish and looked incredulous at this turn of events. When his corporal nervously asked what they should do, the man snapped out of his daze.

"You heard his highness! I don't know about any of you, but I am _not _disobeying Prince Clovis' order. The last person who did that is on indefinite Latrine duty in Hokkaido and he was a general!" The man told his troops with a scowl.

As one, the squad about-faced themselves and left the warehouse.

Tamaki broke the silence by voicing what everyone was thinking.

"OK, what the _hell_?"

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Clovis**

In his dark and empty command centre, Clovis la Britannia finished his announcement and turned on his throne to the shadowy figure leaning against the wall with a pistol aimed at Clovis.

"Are you satisfied?" Clovis enquired archly, skilfully masking his own fear at having a weapon trained on him with all the acting skill he possessed.

"Indeed. You did very well." The figure told him condescendingly.

Clovis' right eye twitched at being treated like a simpleton by this man, although he quickly regained control and spoke again.

"So what shall we do now? Sing a few lively ballads? Or have a game of chess perhaps?" He made no effort to disguise the sarcasm in his voice.

To Clovis' surprise, the man chuckled.

"Chess, is it?" Humour coloured the shadow-clocked man's voice, "That brings back some memories." At Clovis' small frown, the man continued, as he reached up and, only using his free hand, removed his helmet.

"Don't you recall? As boys, we played chess all the time at the Aries Villa. I always won, of course."

Clovis sat up straight on his throne. "Who _are_ you?!" The Third Prince whispered in fear.

"It's been a long time….Big Brother." The figure said as he walked forward to reveal Lelouch in a Britannian soldier's uniform.

Clovis' jaw dropped in shock.

"L-Lelouch?! Is-Is that really you?" Clovis gasped out, eyes bulging in disbelief.

"Indeed, it is I, my brother." Lelouch replied, mockingly giving a Britannian salute.

"Eldest son to the late consort Marianne vi Britannia and 17th in line to the Imperial Throne, Lelouch vi Britannia at your service." Lelouch spoke in a mockingly formal voice, his eyes boring into Clovis like a sniper's ranging scope.

"I have returned, Clovis, and I will change _everything_." This was spoken almost too soft to be heard, but in the tomb-like command centre, it was heard by Clovis as loud as a gunshot.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Lelouch's Perspective**

Lelouch gazed at his half-sibling in contempt. The man was only a short distance away from soiling his trousers and Lelouch hadn't even done anything overtly threatening yet.

"Now, brother, could you explain the meaning of all of this?" Lelouch asked, gesturing to indicate Shinjuku with his free hand, the pistol barrel still aimed at Clovis.

"L-Lelouch…" Clovis gulped loudly, "T-Terrorists stole a v-very dangerous canister, f-filled with poison gas. If Father found out about it, he would d-d-disinherit me!"

Lelouch struck a thinking pose, although the pistol's barrel still never wavered from it's target.

"This capsule, would it happen to be about a meter square, shaped like a flower bulb and coloured grey and white?"

Clovis' face went pasty white.

"Y-You've _seen_ it?!" the Third Prince demanded.

"And opened it." Lelouch replied, eliciting a strangled gasp from his half-brother, "Come on in, C.C." He called into the hall.

The immortal regally strode in and glared silently at her former captor, hatred and contempt oozing from her every pore.

"Y-You!….How?….Why?…._How_?!" Clovis stammered, his own regal façade utterly crushed beyond all repair.

"Your brother was kind enough to free me." C.C replied, her voice quiet and as cold as a glacier, "In exchange I granted him the seed of what you sought."

Clovis switched his eyes to Lelouch, who merely smirked at his elder sibling. Clovis was, for once, struck speechless.

Lelouch then narrowed his eyes at Clovis and his smirk vanished. "Now then, brother, let us talk of seven and a half years ago. Let us talk of my mother's _murder_."

Clovis recoiled. "Wh-What?!" he cried in shock. Lelouch ignored this interruption and went on.

"Even although she held the rank of Knight of Honour and was one of the 108 Imperial Consorts, my mother was common-born and, thus, held in contempt by the nobility and -especially- the other Consorts." Lelouch stated with a calm he didn't feel. All the grief, rage and helplessness from seven years ago bubbled to the surface of his mind and his face twisted in anger.

"That's why one of them had my mother killed, ISNT IT!" Lelouch shouted at his now cowering brother.

"I-I didn't d-do anything! I d-don't know a-anything!" Clovis plead with Lelouch, sobbing in terror at the rage on Lelouch's face.

"No-one can hide the truth from me anymore! Now, {Answer my questions! Who killed my mother?!}" Lelouch demanded, activating his Geass and glaring at Clovis' eyes.

Almost instantly, Clovis ceased his sobbing, straightened in his chair and replied, "Schneizel, the Second Prince and Cornelia, the Second Princess. They know." His voice was a monotone, dull and lifeless.

Lelouch's eyes widened fractionally as he asked, "They are behind this?"

Clovis said nothing and merely looked at Lelouch.

"It would seem he cannot tell you what he does not know." C.C. remarked.

Lelouch scowled and continued his questioning. "Do you know that they know, or do you merely suspect?"

"I know."

"How and why?"

"Cornelia has been investigating Lady Marianne's death ever since Father exiled you, as she loved and respected her dearly. Father ordered Schneizel to take her body somewhere, I do not know why" Clovis answered.

"Fine." Lelouch sighed and changed his line of enquiry, "Do you feel any remorse whatsoever about the people you have murdered today?"

"No."

Lelouch bared his teeth in a snarl as he ground out, "Why not?"

"I am a Prince. Concern of those beneath me is unbecoming of a person of my rank." Clovis stated.

"Fool." was all C.C. said, with a shake of her head.

"What about the…experiments you had performed on this woman here?" Lelouch demanded, violently gesturing at C.C., who looked taken aback, "Do you feel any remorse for that?"

"No."

"For the same reason?"

"Yes."

"Any _other_ reasons?"

"I could become the next emperor with the ability to distribute immortality to those who support me."

C.C. looked like an enraged cat at that.

"Can we _please_ kill him now?" she snarled at Lelouch.

"Not yet. This is a priceless opportunity for information." He replied. Lelouch then addressed Clovis once again.

"Is there a backdoor to the security firewalls at the Area 11 Government Building?" Lelouch asked as he drew a handheld tape recorder he had picked up en-route to the command centre.

"Yes."

"What is required to access it remotely?" Lelouch turned on the tape recorder as he spoke.

Clovis then reeled of instructions on how to gain access to the backdoor. Once Clovis finished, Lelouch re-pocketed the recorder.

"Now, as to the experiments you conducted on C.C. here, who has access to the data?"

"Myself and General Bartley."

"Can you access it remotely from here?"

"No."

"Why?"

"The data is kept in a portable server that can be moved at a moment's notice. When the immortal was stolen, I ordered the project moved to their backup base." Clovis replied, "They should still be en-route now."

Lelouch scowled at this wrinkle. "Where is their backup base?"

"Only General Bartley knows that."

"Why do you not know the backup location of your most secret project!?" Lelouch asked in exasperation.

"I wouldn't need to know unless it got moved, so I saw no point in knowing unless it actually happens."

Lelouch's jaw dropped at his brother's absolute stupidity.

'_I guess that old saying, about how the strongest swordsman need fear the worst swordsman as he doesn't know what the idiot will do applies here._' Lelouch thought as he gazed at Clovis.

"Alright then, do you have a copy of the current number, equipment and deployment of troops in Ja -Area Eleven." Lelouch corrected himself mid-word. Clovis wouldn't recognise Japan as existing anymore.

"Yes."

"Where is it?"

"On the G-1's computers." Clovis replied, gesturing at the computer consoles behind Lelouch and C.C.

Lelouch took a deep breath and let it out. He then spoke to C.C.

"Anything you need to ask?"

"No." Her voice was filled with barely suppressed rage. "Can I kill him _now_?"

"Once I release and arraign him." Lelouch replied. He looked at Clovis one final time and then disengaged his Geass.

Clovis, after a moment, started sobbing in terror again, protesting his innocence to having a hand in Lelouch's mother's murder.

"I believe you." Lelouch told Clovis and lowered his gun.

Clovis stopped sobbing and looked at Lelouch.

"R-Really?" he asked, voice filled with hope.

"Yes." Lelouch replied, then raised the gun again and said, "But still, you are guilty of mass murder, conspiracy to commitgenocide and crimes against humanity." Lelouch gazed stonily at the re-awakened terror in his brother's eyes.

"For these crimes, I hereby sentence you to death, to be carried out immediately."

At these words, Clovis started begging.

"Lelouch! Please, don't! We may not share the same mother, but we are still blood!"

Lelouch paused as if to consider his brother's words. "True." Lelouch admitted, reluctantly. "I have no desire to kill my siblings like Father encourages."

Clovis sagged back into his throne, boneless with relief.

Lelouch then passed the pistol to C.C.

"The wronged party is the one who deserves to do justice." Lelouch spoke softly. C.C. nodded back in gratitude.

"No! Please, no!" Clovis begged.

"Clovis, don't you know?" Lelouch spoke softly, "The world will not change for the better without being willing to get your hands dirty."

C.C. pulled the trigger.

A solitary pistol shot rang out, ending the life of Clovis la Britannia, a coward, egomaniac and heartless murderer.

Lelouch stared at the cooling body of his brother. Although an inept fool and a cowardly murderer, Clovis had still been a member of his family and it still hurt to see him dead, deserving or not.

A cool hand touched his cheek and he looked down into C.C.'s soft agate orbs.

"You may not feel like it now, but you did the right thing." She murmured quietly, "He had committed too many crimes to too many people to escape justice. If not by my hand or yours, someone would have ended him, and with far less mercy than you showed him."

Lelouch closed his eyes and slowly nodded, enjoying the soft touch of her hand. It felt…..comforting.

Lelouch opened his eyes and nodded again. Stepping away from C.C., he gently closed Clovis' eyelids.

'_In victory, one must be gracious.'_ He reminded himself. A truism told to him by his mother so often, he had been told by his maids he had said it in his sleep back in the Aries Palace.

A short time later a pair of shadowy figures left the command centre and boarded a vacant Sutherland, which shortly disappeared into the Ghetto.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Kallen, Resistance Group Backup Hideout**

Kallen sat and listened to the rest of her group debate what the hell had happened in Shinjuku. She was waiting for Ohgi to step in and calm Tamaki down once he started ranting again before she reveals who she thought was responsible.

Suddenly, the radio crackled and a familiar voice speaks over it.

"_Q-1, this is K-1. Respond._" Kallen was at the radio in a flash.

"This is Q-1." She said, "Was it you? Did you cause the cease-fire?"

All around her, conversation stopped and everyone's attention was riveted to the radio.

"_Yes, it was._" Tamaki gaped at the radio and Ohgi looked at Kallen with a raised eyebrow, clearly curious as to how she had suspected K-1 to have saved them.

Kallen gulped in a breath of air then let it out. "Thank you. Britannian soldiers were about to execute P-Group and myself when the order was broadcast."

"_I did something slightly more useful and significant than merely cause a cease-fire, Q-1, although I am glad my timing was on target._" K-1's voice sounded amused.

Tamaki opened his moth, probably to demand who K-1 thought he was to gamble with their lives like that, but Inoue and Yoshida both clapped hands over his mouth to shut him up.

"Eh?" Kallen let out a squeak of surprise. After all of the seeming miracles K-1 had caused, she was almost insatiably curious as to what else he had done.

"W-What did you do?" she asked, almost afraid to ask, which was ridiculous. She wanted to know, so why not ask?

"_You'll see, in about a day._" K-1 said, his amusement fading and a more serious tone replacing it. "_Tell me, Q-1, why do you fight Britannia?_"

"To free Japan." Kallen replied instantly.

"_That is the ideal you pursue as a __result__ of the reason, not the reason itself._" K-1 admonishes her. Kallen blinked in surprise. K-1 continued talking.

"_All humans fight for personal reasons, be it for money, love, power, honour, joy in battle or revenge, before a grand ideal. Tell me, Q-1, what is your __true__ reason for fighting Britannia?_"

Kallen gaped at the radio, shocked at being seen through so easily, by this person she had never even _met,_ yet again!

Kallen shakes her head to clear it and considers. After all K-1 had done for her group today, she supposed an honest answer was not out of the question.

"Revenge." She spoke, anger's heat flickering in her voice, making all of her Resistance Cell flinch, "Britannia took my Onii-sama from me. Clovis ordered his death and disposed of the body as if it was trash! I wont rest until my brother's dream comes true- a Japan free of Britannian Tyranny!"

For a moment then there was silence from the radio then K-1 spoke again.

"_I am sorry for your loss. It would seem that you and I have a similar reason to fight. One of them, anyway._"

Before Kallen could wrap her head around that statement, K-1 had moved on.

"_I will contact you later. In the meantime, you should return to Ashford…Miss Kallen Stadtfelt._" The radio fell silent as Kallen's face blanched.

'_H-He knows who I am.'_ Kallen thought somewhat numbly, her mind hit with far too many different surprises for one day to catch up with them all.

Tamaki, free of Yoshida and Inoue, looked at Kallen and smirked.

"Never thought that anyone could shut you up like that." he crowed.

Ten seconds later, Ohgi and the rest had to pull Kallen off of Tamaki as she tried to throttle the fool.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Next Chapter: Chapter 5: Of Plans, Loyalty and Bargains.**

Authors Note: All the building I mentioned by name, as well as roads and subway stations, are actual buildings, roads and stations in Shinjuku. Google a map if you want to see the route Suzaku took.

I had always thought that C.C. must have been furious with Clovis for what he had ordered done to her, indifferent mask aside, so I gave her a chance to get her own back, as well as Lelouch actually taking the opportunity to take advantage of having a veritable goldmine of information sitting in his lap. Quite why he never took advantage of that in canon outright boggles the mind.

Now, the Lemons begin in the next chapter. I say this now and will say it again at the start of the next Chapter as well, so there is no way you do not know about it. This fic is rated M for a reason, y'know.

There is a new Poll going up. It is basically asking what story I should write after I finish this and shall stay up until New Years Day.

See you on the 16th!


	6. Of Plans, Loyalty and Bargains

**Authors Note: Well, it's slightly late, but here's the new chapter. I am quite gratified with the responses I got to that last Chapter, so to all of you who reviewed, my thanks.**

**Now, this Chapter has a lemon in it. That's why it took so long to write. If it ain't good, it's not that I didn't try.**

**I got a rather irritated person saying how Suzaku ended up looking like a fool. My answer? He is a fool. He is even more naïve than in canon in my story and (at the moment) disregards tactics he deems to be unjust or dishonourable. As to why the Lancelot didn't strut its stuff, the ambushers were on top of buildings when they engaged him, so the Lancelot, without the VARIS-rifle, had no proper way to respond, giving the ambushers sufficient time to withdraw.**

**BTW, Tochō is the nickname for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, or Tokyo City Hall. I did mention it in the last chapter, but obviously wasn't clear enough.**

**Anyway, enough from me. Enjoy this fic!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Code Geass, I'd have never have invented the FLEIA weapon. As it's in Canon, I don't own Code Geass.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**WARNING: This Chapter contains a Lemon. If you do not wish to read it, skip over the indicated section!**

**Chapter 5: Of Plans, Loyalty and Bargains.**

**With Lelouch and C.C., Ashford Academy, 12.00am**

Lelouch sighed in relief as he saw the Ashford Academy Student Council Clubhouse, which had been his and Nunnally's home for the last two years, since his graduation from Ashford's Middle School Division.

'_A few hours ago, I thought I wouldn't ever see Ashford, or Nunnally, ever again._' Lelouch though soberly.

After ending his radio conversation with Kallen, he had stashed his second stolen Sutherland at a hidden location near Ashford, he, with C.C. in tow, had walked here.

"How are you going to explain me to your sister?" C.C. asked. The green haired immortal had been silent for the last ten minutes or so as they walked.

Lelouch stopped, turned his head and looked at her shrewdly. He had drawn out several plans in his mind about that subject, so now was as good a time as any to discuss them with her.

"Nunnally isn't who we have to be concerned with tonight, as by this time she should be asleep. My Japanese maid, Sayoko, is the one we have to explain ourselves to." Lelouch replied.

C.C., who had also stopped, cocked her head to one side in silent query.

"Sayoko Shinozaki. 37th Successor to the Shinozaki School of Taijutsu. 24 years old. She has served Nunnally and me since we became wards of the Ashford Family, and was previously Milly Ashford's personal maid." Lelouch rattled off.

"She is aware of our true identities and loves Nunnally dearly. She always refers to me as 'My Lord' or with the honorific's '-sama' or '-dono'. She has helped me keep in shape and has personally taught me both _Kenjutsu_ and _Aikido_. Her loyalty to us is absolute and she has…_dealt_ with several people who have attempted to kidnap Nunnally, perverts and molesters mostly, and has expressed on several occasions the desire to track down and slay the one responsible for my mother's murder on Nunnally's behalf." Lelouch finished.

C.C.'s eyebrows rose in surprise.

"You remembered all that off of the top of your head?" she asked, sounding impressed.

Lelouch shrugged. "I have an excellent memory. Not photographic, but close. Anyway, telling her my plans will be fairly simple. How to introduce _you_, however, will be slightly more problematic." he told his companion.

"You have a plan." The immortal stated.

"Several. The first one would be to not hide anything and tell her everything." Lelouch said.

Looking incredulous, C.C. shook her head.

"Second idea, we could say that Clovis was using you for inhumane experimentation, merely omitting precisely what those experiments were for, and you desire revenge on Britannia as a result, joining up with me as a means to that end." Lelouch continued.

C.C. looked thoughtful at that one, but motioned for him to keep going.

"Third idea, you hate Britannia, for an unnamed and private reason, and had tried to assassinate Clovis, but failed and were imprisoned aboard his G-1. I released you and you joined up with me to continue attacking Britannia." Lelouch outlined his third plan with a dubious face.

The Immortal seemed to share his opinion as she shook her head again.

"My last plan is very simple: introduce you and tell her you are an ally. She ought to accept my word on the subject. She'll still keep an eye on you though." Lelouch finished and looked at the immortal, interested in her opinion.

C.C. looked somewhat dubious again. "Do you think she would accept such a….blatant…'this woman's identity is none of your concern' approach?"

"I do believe I would." a soft, feminine voice, located to the left and behind them, spoke up suddenly, causing Lelouch and C.C. to start in surprise.

"Sayoko, what have I said about getting enough sleep? AND about sneaking up on people?" Lelouch asked with a small sigh as he turned around to look at his maid.

"My Lord, you are extremely late. Lady Nunnally was most distraught. She only retired at a decent hour because I promised to stay up and greet you when you arrived." Sayoko said, somewhat reproachfully, as she stepped out of the shadows she had concealed herself in.

"For that I AM sorry." Lelouch told her, sincerity obvious in his voice, "I would never have worried Nunnally unless it was unavoidable, and today it _was_ unavoidable."

Sayoko had been studying Lelouch's face as he spoke and came to a conclusion.

"You have seen death this day, My Lord." Sayoko said, very, _very_ softly.

Lelouch merely nodded.

"I see. This seems a place ill suited for such a conversation. Let us go inside." Sayoko said, turning and walking up the path towards the Clubhouse, Lelouch and C.C. following behind her.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch, C.C. and Sayoko, Time Skip ½ an hour later.**

"…And then we came back here." Lelouch finished. Realising that it was pointless to try to conceal her part in the tale Lelouch was telling Sayoko, C.C. had told Sayoko everything Lelouch knew about Geass.

They were currently sitting at the dining table in Lelouch and Nunnally's quarters as Lelouch alternated between telling his story and eating the dinner Sayoko had reheated for him.

Sayoko had sat and listened, showing no emotion in either her face or body language and had interrupted only to ask for clarification of a point.

The only exception was when they had gotten to the part where Clovis' Royal Guard had almost killed Lelouch. Her eyes had narrowed, her fists had clenched and she gave off an aura of intimidation.

After a moment, she had taken a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Go on." She had said simply.

When the tale was done, Sayoko sat for a moment and seemed to be deep in thought, her eyes closed and a mild wrinkle on her brow. When her eyes opened, they looked at Lelouch indecipherably.

"I have three or four questions if I may, My Lord?" Sayoko said, her voice just as indecipherable as her eyes. At Lelouch's nod, she continued.

"Do you intend to rebel against your father, My Lord?" Was her first question.

"Yes." Lelouch responded simply, his eyes locked onto hers.

Sayoko slowly nodded, seeming to have already guessed the answer to that one.

"Why do you wish to wage war? For revenge?" Sayoko asked her second question with a slight inflection of steel.

'_Obviously she wouldn't approve of a war driven purely by revenge. It is a good thing that it is not._' Lelouch thought as he regarded his maid.

"I would be lying if I were to say revenge were not part of it, as it is." Lelouch spoke bluntly, respecting Sayoko too much as a person to try to deceive her, "But there are two other main reasons. The first is to repay Japan. During the months before the Invasion, Nunnally recovered far quicker than expected, due to the atmosphere around her, the….attitude…of the people she came into contact with."

Lelouch sighed and looked away, lost in memories. "You have to understand. At Pendragon, in the Imperial Court, even while recovering from losing her own mother and being brutally injured herself, Nunnally would have been forced not to show weakness, otherwise vultures would have stuck to take advantage of that weakness. In Japan, no one had anything on their minds other than aiding in her recuperation. I owe much to Japan, on Nunnally's behalf."

Lelouch returned his gaze to a slightly teary Sayoko. "It's a debt I fully intend to repay."

"And…the other reason?" Sayoko asked somewhat hesitantly.

"To protect Nunnally's future." Lelouch said firmly. "As long as Britannia exists, there is a chance Nunnally and myself could be found. We would be made into pawns on Father's chessboard, made into tools again. _That_ I will _not_ allow." At those last five words, Lelouch's voice became as unbending as steel, determination poring off him.

Sayoko nodded and spoke her third question.

"Will you use this power you have been given, use your Geass?"

"Yes, I will. To not use such an ability would be the height of foolishness." Lelouch told her. "But make no mistake, I was planning to rebel, even without Geass, at some point in the future. Obtaining Geass merely accelerated my timetable by a couple of decades."

C.C. snorted in amusement at that and Sayoko's mouth twitched upwards slightly at his frank admission.

"Hey! That was when I figured I could have amassed sufficient capital and followers to at least _begin_ to fight Britannia!" Lelouch protested their seeming amusement at his honesty.

"As you say, my Lord." Sayoko said with a straight face, "My final question is this then: Can you win?"

Lelouch sat and thought for a moment, then gave Sayoko his answer.

"To say with 100% confidence 'Yes, I can win' would be the height of foolishness, Sayoko." Lelouch said slowly and carefully, "There are far too many unknown variables, factors and possibilities to take into account, even in the short term. Who will replace Clovis as Viceroy and what policies will that person enact? Can I convince the group of Terrorists I worked with today to join me?"

Lelouch shook his head slowly.

"Far too many things to predict, even for me. But, I can promise you this, Sayoko," Lelouch locked eyes with Sayoko, "I will do everything in my abilities to emerge victorious, come what may."

The room was silent after that, as maid regarded prince, with an immortal looking on at the sidelines. Sayoko's face was inscrutable, giving nothing away, while Lelouch's face merely showed determination.

Abruptly, Sayoko stood up and moved to the side of the table where Lelouch sat. Lelouch regarded her warily as she faced him then jerked in surprise as she knelt on one knee, right arm crossed over her chest and her head bowed.

"I, Sayoko Shinozaki, 37th Heir to the Shinozaki School of Taijutsu, hereby swear my life, loyalty and honour to Lelouch Lamperouge. I am your sword and shield, your watcher in the shadows and keeper of your secrets. Do you accept this oath, Goshujin-sama?" Sayoko intoned formally, her words soft and precise.

Lelouch stood himself and reached down to touch Sayoko's shoulder. When she looked up, she saw the small, kind smile on his face and heard his reply.

"I, Lelouch Lamperouge, formerly Lelouch vi Britannia, do hereby accept your oath, Sayoko Shinozaki. You have my word that you shall never regret swearing yourself to me, as I swear to honour your loyalty with my own."

Sayoko beamed at this, the proof that the one she chose as her Master was indeed worthy of her oath.

"Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Goshujin-sama." Sayoko replied in Japanese, bowing her head again.

Lelouch smiled gently at his new follower as he gestured at her to rise.

Sayoko rose and re-took her seat, still possessing a small grin on her face at the quality of her Master.

"Now then, with Sayoko on board, keeping Nunnally in the dark will be much easier." Lelouch said aloud, clearly thinking aloud.

"Are you certain that is wise, My Lord?" Sayoko asked, concern plain in her voice, "To keep her unaware of all this seems…unwise."

"I know, Sayoko," Lelouch replied, consternation flashing across his face before swiftly being erased, "I would prefer to tell Nunnally the truth myself. However, she is, bluntly, a security risk."

A single brow on C.C.'s right eye rose elegantly in query. Lelouch answered her unspoken question.

"Nunnally is not unintelligent. Far from it in fact. However, she is very naïve and far too trusting of our estranged family." Lelouch shuddered as he recalled Guinevere, Carina and Odysseus. The vain, clothes obsessed, status-crazy Princess Guinevere, the arrogant, Brattiest Princess Carina and the dull, mediocre Prince Odysseus.

Lelouch swiftly banished the three from his mind and continued making his point to Sayoko.

"The instant she hears I plan on rebelling against father, and that I have already had Clovis killed, she would immediately seek to try to 'save me from my misguided line of thought' by constantly arguing with me, trying to obstruct me and being a constant, not to mention unwanted, distraction, taking the moral high ground the entire time." Lelouch finished, his face adorned with a somewhat sour look.

"My Lord, Lady Nunnally adores you! I am certain she wouldn't…" Sayoko tried to protest, but Lelouch shook his head in finality.

"Sayoko, she views fighting, for any reason barring self-defence, as one of the worst crimes anyone can commit. She is happy and content living together with me right now and would not understand my need to try to neutralise a potential threat to that. No, Nunnally is to be kept in the dark as much as possible." Lelouch countered Sayoko's protest with steely eyes.

Recognising an immovable object when she saw one, Sayoko bowed her head in acquiescence.

"Now, moving on….," Lelouch turned his head to the green haired immortal sitting next to him, "C.C., is there anything about Geass in general I need to be aware of that I currently am not?"

C.C. looked at Lelouch, seeming to weigh the question in her mind before answering.

"The more you use your Geass, the stronger it will become. The stronger it becomes, the more….effort….or perhaps willpower is a better term….you will have to use to deactivate it at will. Eventually, two things will happen, in no particular order: your Geass will become so strong that you will become unable to deactivate it and it will expand to your other eye. I call the first one, 'Geass Intoxication'. " The immortal replied in a bored manner, almost as if she was speaking by rote.

Lelouch and Sayoko looked at each other in alarm at the first of the two inevitable conditions.

"Is there anything that can impede Geass? Anything that can conceal it and prevent its use?" Lelouch asked.

"There is a special kind of glass that can be made into contact lenses. I can tell you where you can acquire it, but even that will eventually become useless as your Geass progresses in strength." C.C. told the former prince matter-of-factly.

Lelouch sat for a moment and processed this information, then carried on with his questions.

"What about something that prevents me from Geassing someone?" He asked. "I already know that I require eye-contact with a person in order to use my Geass, which shows that it _can_ be blocked."

C.C. looked thoughtful for a moment. "I know of only one other person with a Geass similar to yours, and his power can be blocked by something as simple as reflective sunglasses. As your power is similar, the same weakness might apply."

Lelouch filed this in his 'Highly Suspicious' folder.

"Sayoko, do we have any reflective sunglasses? We need to experiment to find out if this applies to my Geass." Lelouch asked the maid, who vanished and reappeared with a pair of the requested glasses.

As she looked questioningly at C.C., the yellow-eyed woman shook her head.

"I am immune to all Geass abilities, so a test on me would be pointless." The immortal said with a shrug. Lelouch made a note to ask her about that later.

Sayoko simply put the glasses on herself and faced Lelouch with a small nod of permission.

Lelouch hesitated and then activated his Geass, the red bird symbol appearing in his left eye as he issued a fairly harmless order to his loyal maid.

"{Sayoko, you will answer my questions.}" Lelouch intoned, the bird symbol flapping as he spoke.

"No, I will not." Sayoko responded. Lelouch deactivated his Geass with a small sigh of relief.

"Well, that proves it. C.C., give Sayoko the location of that contact lens manufactory. She can go and place a small order at some point next week." He nodded at Sayoko who bowed back in response as she removed the glasses.

"Anything else you wish to know?" C.C. asked airily. Lelouch frowned slightly as he turned back to her.

"There is, actually. When we made our contract, I saw a vision of my father, Charles zi Britannia and heard him speak. He said-" Lelouch's frown turned into a glare at this point, "-something about a 'convergence with a Ragnarok Connection' and how 'the myth is beginning once again'."

Across from Lelouch, Sayoko had tensed up and one of her hands was concealed by the table. Lelouch suspected she had palmed a hidden knife.

"So, C.C., is there anything you would care to share with us? Anything at all?" Lelouch spoke, his voice deceptively light as his eyes bored a hole in C.C.

The woman looked between the angry prince and the flight-or-fight ready ninja-maid and sighed.

'_Well, they would have found out anyway, so this isn't too bad._' C.C. thought as she returned Lelouch's glare with an apathetic stare of her own, '_I'll tell him some of the truth, just not all of it just yet._'

"Yes, I know your father fairly well. I should, considering I spent over thirty years in the Imperial Court." C.C. answered, shocking both of her interrogators.

"But people would remember an attractive green haired woman who had the exact same appearance for over thirty years!" Lelouch protested, then paused as a puzzle piece clicked into place. "He did something with his Geass, didn't he?"

"Correct." C.C. smiled as Lelouch's eyes narrowed in thought.

'_So, he thinks I'm attractive?_' the immortal thought with a barely perceivable blush. '_Interesting…._'

"Is his Geass the one that is similar to mine?" Lelouch asked sharply.

"It is. No two Geass are ever exactly the same, just as no two people think alike, but both your Geass and Charles' Geass are fairly easy to classify and are surprisingly similar." C.C. told her two-person audience.

"You, Lelouch, have the Power of Absolute Obedience. You can command anyone to do anything, including altering their memories and making them obedient to you. I wouldn't be surprised if you could make it so they became unbearably horny upon command."

Both Sayoko and Lelouch went as red as cherries at that last example.

"Charles on the other hand, possesses the Power of Mental Manipulation. By making eye contact with his target, he can freely suppress, alter and create memories, even completely replacing one person with another in memories is easily within his abilities. He can also suppress a person's Geass by placing it in a cage of amnesia."

Lelouch was reeling with the information he was confronted with. His father's Geass meant that a face-to-face confrontation would not work as it would lead to his own defeat.

"Did you give him this Geass?" he asked.

"No, there is another person able to bestow Geass in the Imperial Court called V.V. and he is a close confidant of your father." C.C. replied.

"Just how many people in the Court have a Geass?" Lelouch demanded.

C.C. shrugged lightly. "My knowledge is seven years out of date, but when I left, only two: your father and The Knight of One. Another died just prior to me leaving."

"Who?" Lelouch snarled, having guessed who it was already.

"Your mother, although she never activated her Geass until the day she died." C.C. replied, face and voice utterly bland.

Lelouch's face twitched a couple of times as anger fought with control. Eventually, control won and he exhaled a heavy sigh.

"What Geass does Bismarck Waldstein posses?" he enquired.

"The Power of Reading Trajectories. He can 'see' where and how an opponent will move several seconds in advance, allowing him to react accordingly. The only person who has defeated this Geass was your mother, Marianne 'The Flash'." was the stunning reply from C.C.

"Mother was able to defeat an opponent with such a powerful ability?" Lelouch whispered, almost reverently.

"Indeed she did." C.C. told him, clearly amused. "Bismarck held a considerable level of respect for Marianne from his first defeat and trained himself to both not rely on his Geass _and_ combining his Geass with his piloting skill. His skill rose rapidly in a short amount of time. He still never beat your mother, even with his new skill level AND his Geass put together. Before I left I created a seal for him that prevented him from using his Geass unless he fought someone on par with Marianne, by his own request."

Lelouch tried to wrap his head around the new idea that not all members of the Imperial Court had hated his mother, and immediately shelved the information for later analysis.

"And Mother?" he asked.

"I never saw her use it, so I cannot say with certainty." C.C. replied.

'_It _is_ the truth. I never _saw_ her Power of Soul Transference, so I cannot be certain that is what it is._' The immortal thought as she deflected his question deftly.

"Ok then. What about this 'V.V.' character. What about him? Or is it a her?" Lelouch asked curiously.

"Him. Moreover, I'd rather not talk about him. He and I get along like oil and water." C.C. replied, her face locking down in an unsuitable mask.

There was silence until Sayoko spoke up. She had, Lelouch noted, put the knife back from wherever she had taken it from.

"My Lord, doesn't the fact that you saw your father imply ms. C.C. still has some sort of connection with someone close to your father?" she enquired.

C.C. was grateful for the deflection and answered Sayoko before Lelouch could recover from his surprise.

"Indeed, I do. However, I am considering severing it." she replied, subtly eyeing Lelouch as he recovered and openly scrutinised her.

"Why?" was his simple question.

"For several reasons. First among them is that you are my new contractor. We are partners. Collaborators. It makes no sense to either passively or actively aid people trying to kill my contractor."

Lelouch nodded, accepting this statement. "That makes sense. Any other reasons?"

C.C. hesitated and gave a sidelong look to Sayoko before cutting back to Lelouch.

"I would prefer to discus that in private."

Lelouch raised his eyebrows but nodded.

"Anything else you would like to ask Sayoko?" Lelouch asked the maid.

"Would it be possible for me to receive a Geass?" was completely unexpected and caused both Lelouch and C.C. to gape at the maid in utter astonishment.

"Sayoko?!" Lelouch choked out.

"It makes sense, My Lord. Your father possesses at least one, probably more, person possessing a powerful Geass. You need something to counter that, and I wish to be the first to aid you in this matter." she told him.

Lelouch conceded that, but it was not up to him. He looked at C.C., who had recovered and was regarding Sayoko with an intent look on her face.

"C.C.?" he voiced his query softly, as if not wanting to disturb her. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye then returned to regarding Sayoko.

"Girl, you realise that there is no way to know what your Geass will be in advance? It might be something completely useless for all you know." The immortal told the maid.

"I am willing to accept the possibility." Sayoko replied, unperturbed.

"In addition, a Geass is not free. It is given in trade for something. An exchange of services. What would you give in exchange for power?" C.C. continued, eyes locked on Sayoko's own.

"Nothing that will harm, betray or otherwise inconvenience Lady Nunnally or my Goshujin-sama. Other than that, you may ask whatever you will of me." Sayoko replied, as she returned C.C.'s searching gaze with an impassive one of her own.

"Pfff…..Hah, hahahahahahahaha!" C.C. erupted into laughter, throwing her head back and closing her eyes.

"Ah….such a strong resolve. Such determination. Such devotion! You will have to tell me what my partner here did to evoke such loyalty from you someday." C.C. said after she stopped laughing. "Very well. I shall grant you power. In exchange, you must grant one wish of mine. Do you accept?"

Sayoko nodded. "I do. What must I do?"

"Merely touch your hand to mine." C.C. said extending her right hand. Sayoko, without hesitation, grabbed on to it and immediately froze up. C.C.'s mark on her forehead glowed a luminescent red as she began the contract.

Lelouch looked on, of two minds about this. On one hand, it was interesting to see a contract being made from the outside, but on the other, it was worrying he had no idea what condition Sayoko was agreeing to.

C.C.'s mark ceased glowing and Sayoko unfroze and looked around in something of a daze.

"Sayoko, are you alright?" Lelouch asked, concerned.

"Y-Yes. I'm fine, My Lord. It is merely somewhat…disorientating to go through. I'm….amazed you were able to function properly so soon after making your contract." she replied, somewhat breathless.

"The threat of being killed focuses the mind wonderfully." Lelouch replied dryly.

"It did help that you have a very resilient and adaptable mind. The initial strength of the Geass depends on a person's mental strength and mental complexity." C.C. remarked to Lelouch.

"Interesting. Anyway, do you know what Sayoko's Geass is?" Lelouch said, curious.

"Not a clue. We won't know until she activates it." C.C. said with a shrug.

"Sayoko, do you feel up to trying it out?" Lelouch asked. Sayoko was back to normal and nodded briskly.

Sayoko focussed and the Geass sigil appeared in her left eye. Sayoko frowned for a moment and looked around the room. She gasped when she looked at Lelouch.

"Oh my."

"What? What is it?" Lelouch asked, eager for information.

"I-I can see an….an _aura_ around you, My Lord. It's…..royal blue. And I get the impression of immense intelligence and curiosity." Sayoko replied, seemingly entranced by what she could see.

"Interesting." C.C. commented. "Lelouch, what were you thinking of when Sayoko looked at you?"

"I was running through all of the powers Geass has manifested thus far and theorising all the possible abilities there could be based on those abilities. I was also curious about what kind of Geass Sayoko would manifest." Lelouch replied.

"Think about something else. Your sister." The immortal directed.

Lelouch did as he was asked and thought about Nunnally. Her smile, her gentle nature, her resilience and how much he loved her.

"Oh my," Sayoko said, sounding somewhat awed. "Your aura….it's changed. It's now a light pink, tinged with a light blue and edged with black."

"What impressions do you get from the Aura?" C.C. asked.

"Love. Incredibly strong love, tinged with sadness and grief." Sayoko replied softly.

"Well, this Geass is fairly easy to classify. It's the Power of Emotional Reading." C.C. said with an air of finality, "You'll probably be able to delve deeper and get a picture of what the person you are reading is thinking about once your Geass gains in strength."

"Oh my." came from Sayoko again as she deactivated her Geass.

"Sayoko, this is an excellent Geass you have acquired. Imagine it: you'll be able to tell if someone's lying or if they plan to attack Nunnally or….the possibilities are numerous!" Lelouch expounded with a smirk.

"An ability perfectly suited to a bodyguard." C.C. agreed.

"My thanks, Lady C.C." Sayoko replied. Lelouch raised an eyebrow at Sayoko's change in addressing C.C., but it made sense, as C.C. had done an immense favour for her.

"Now, as I have school tomorrow, we had better wrap things up, but before we do, let's talk about how we go about rebelling against Britannia. We will need disguises and alter egos. The last thing we need is anyone recognising any of us." Lelouch said, laying out his ideas. Sayoko and C.C. both nodded.

"Sayoko, you have been a shield against our foes for years. Your codename shall be….Aegis." Lelouch told Sayoko, who bowed in her seat at this.

"C.C., you offer considerable experience due to your long life and can tell us what we need to hear, rather than what we want to hear, therefore _your_ codename shall be….Augur." Lelouch told the immortal who merely rolled her eyes at his fanciful name.

"And yourself, My Lord?" Sayoko asked.

"Britannia has been obsessed with Numbers for years now, calling all their conquered territories by Numbers." Lelouch said, a chilling grin on his face, "So then, I shall become the absence of Numbers: I shall be called…..Zero."

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Lelouch's Room, Ten Minutes Later**

"So, C.C., what is it you wished to discuss away from Sayoko?" Lelouch asked as he sat at his desk, lazily finishing his homework that he had due for the next day. Latin, History, Mathematics, Political Sciences….all done, leaving only the report on nutrition for Home Economics.

All fairly easy for Lelouch.

C.C. was reclined on the bed, waving her legs and leaning her head on her arms.

"Are you not going to ask about what Sayoko promised to do in exchange for her Geass?" C.C. asked, probing the boy for a reaction.

"I doubt you would tell me if I did." Lelouch replied dryly, as he closed his notebook and swivelled his chair around to face the immortal woman, leaning his head on one hand as he did so.

"I will confess, I _am_ curious, but as Sayoko set her limits before you made the contract, I am not too concerned." Lelouch finished with a small shrug.

C.C. looked at the boy in front of her and stopped herself from licking her lips. He had discarded his uniform top and his shirt was half-unbuttoned, revealing quite a bit of his well-muscled chest.

Now, C.C. wasn't unfamiliar with well-muscled men, having been born and raised during a time period where a soldier had needed to get up-close and personal with the foe, and had trained accordingly, but Lelouch was something else entirely.

C.C. had been sold off as a girl to be a slave to a wealthy feudal lord in what was now the Euro Universe. Slave girls had next to no chance of retaining their chastity, and C.C. would have suffered the same fate had her master, most of his male servants and all of his guests, not been homosexual.

That, however, did _not_ mean she was not beaten, starved, degraded and, all in all, put in a situation where she frequently wished she was dead. After she had been beaten near to death, escaped from her master and then received her Geass of Love Attraction from her contractor, she had simply revelled in the simple joy of not getting beaten, of people actually acknowledging her existence being above trash.

Then, her contractor had betrayed her, forcing the Code Geass upon her and died, leaving her alone.

C.C. had despaired and tried multiple times to kill herself, only to come to the conclusion that she was 100% immortal, after she failing to drown in the Channel.

As the centuries passed, she found herself unwilling to give her virginity to anyone, male or female, until she began to wonder if she had been rendered utterly asexual as a result of the damn Code.

Oh, she liked _looking_ as much as any woman, but she had no desire to touch or kiss _whatsoever_. It was maddening to think that not only did that thrice-damned nun steal any choice she had in her future, she had, it seemed, also stolen any and all of her _desires_ as an encore.

I mean, what was the point in doing anything if you didn't enjoy doing it?

Especially sex of all things!

At least, until she had met Lelouch.

He seemed to embody the traits she found most attractive in a man -smart, strong, handsome, caring, devoted and humble. When she made contracts with a person, she gleaned a slight understanding of who the person was at their core, their true self.

Fury, grief, despair, a healthy desire for vengeance -all of these were present within Lelouch. However, they paled in comparison to the strength of his _will_, his unthinking charisma, his sheer determination and the devotion he felt for his crippled, blinded, utterly _adorable_ sister.

Lelouch wasn't just a diamond in the rough, he was a damn giant among dwarves.

"C.C.?" Lelouch called her name, jerking her out of her introspection.

"What? Sorry, I got lost in thought for a moment." C.C. said, inwardly cringing at such a lame excuse.

"I asked what you wanted to do regarding school. Do you want me to pull strings to enrol you?" Lelouch repeated his question, with no visible sign of irritation.

"Why in God's name would I want to enrol in _high school _of all things?" C.C. asked.

Lelouch shrugged. "To pass the time, to keep a closer eye on me….anything else you wish to add?"

C.C. thought for a moment, then shrugged.

"If you wish me to attend, by all means do so. I have no preference." she replied, returning his shrug.

"Fair enough." Lelouch said, making a note on a notepad, then looked her square in the eyes.

"Why have you been so open?" he asked intently.

C.C. raised an eyebrow coyly.

"Don't give me that. You refuse to say what wish it is you wish me to grant you, but readily tell both me and Sayoko a considerable amount of information about Geass, my father and even gave Sayoko a Geass of her own." Lelouch said, gazing intently into her eyes without blinking, "That leads me to conclude that either whatever it is your going to ask of me is not something I will like and are diverting me with superfluous and excessive information _or_ you are uncertain as to your own wish. Which is it?"

C.C. blankly stared back at him for a moment then, cocking her head to the side slightly, asked, "Can it not be a bit of both?"

Lelouch sat still for a moment before uttering a single word, "Explain."

C.C. responded by revealing her Geass sigil on her forehead, usually hidden beneath her bangs.

"This is called Code Geass. It grants the person who bears it eternal youth, eternal life and immortal regeneration, in addition to grant people the power of Geass, also known as the Power of the King." C.C. told him, before concealing the mark with her hair again and continued.

"I had this curse _forced_ on me over 700 years ago, during what you call the High Middle Ages. Every day I have been forced to live has been full of little but dreary days where I had go on, just trying to find a way to rid myself of my Code." C.C. had a melancholic look on her face as she spoke, her eyes haunted.

"In that time I have been 'killed' in numerous ways, from a sword to the heart, to poison, being trampled to death. I was even burned at the stake once. In all that time though, I was always still viewed as a human, as someone who was equal with other people, regardless of my abilities."

C.C. then ground her teeth and had a furious expression on her face.

"Then that, that…..pompous _ass_ Clovis captured me. I was relegated to a status lower than a _pig_, lower than even a _slave_ by that man! I was merely experimental material for that man, one he knew couldn't wear out or die. Never have I been so humiliated, lain so beneath contempt that I was referred to as 'Prime Material Number 00' by those bastard scientists!"

Lelouch's eyes were ablaze with fury as he looked at her, although anger was all that showed on the immortal's face.

"The experiments were…..awful. The _pain_….oh, the _pain_ was monumental. And constant. I was dismembered, injected with acid, beheaded, skewered, exsanguinated, beaten, broken and killed in almost every imaginable way." C.C. said bitterly, "Throughout it all, they tried to artificially replicate my Code and bombarded me with questions whenever I had just revived. As if I would tell them _anything_. And on the torture went: electrocution, poison gas, neurotoxins, suffocation….the list goes on."

"C.C….." Lelouch spoke up, concern in his voice.

"Let me finish. Please?" the green-haired woman asked him. When he reluctantly nodded, she continued, "What made it worse was the fact I knew Charles had found out about Clovis' project and had given his unofficial blessing. The pompous fool told me himself, not a month ago." C.C. shook her head and laughed bitterly.

"Ironic isn't it? One of the few people I have trusted in a century betrayed me, even going so far as to give Clovis blueprints for a device that prevented me from using my Code to escape." C.C.'s voice was full of emotions, rage and betrayal chief amongst them.

"Then today, those terrorists showed up and stole me, removing me from the device's envelope. For the first time in over a year and a half, I could access all of my abilities. I knew that it was only a matter of time before Clovis deployed forces to chase me, but still, I hoped I would get away…" C.C. allowed her voice to trail away as she turned to look at Lelouch.

"Then, who should come across me but Marianne's son? I could feel your mind, concerned and proud, faintly at the edge of my awareness. I had promised Marianne to give you a Geass if she was unable to protect you herself, so I had planned on finding you in Japan, but I got caught by the buffoon before I could find you."

Lelouch's eyes widened at this revelation as C.C. continued her tale.

"I tried to speak using my Code as a medium for telepathy, but Bartley's people had doped me up with sedatives, so I was unsure if you heard me or not."

"I did, very faintly." Lelouch told her.

"I see…. Anyway, when the capsule I was in opened, the first thing I saw…was you and your soldier friend. I was so relieved to see you that I succumbed to the sedatives. When I came to, we were in the tunnels. You know what happened after that." C.C. said and Lelouch merely nodded.

"I do." he said, regarding the woman in front of him with new respect. To have endured what she had, not just while in Clovis' clutches, but over her entire 700-year lifespan, was humbling and demanded respect for her strength of mind and will. He doubted he could keep it together after all of that.

"To answer your curiosity, my contract with Sayoko is this: she will do her utmost to ensure your survival and not interfere in my relationship with you, whatever form it might take." C.C. told him, a small smirk on her face.

Lelouch was rather startled at the sudden _non sequitur_. Then his eyes narrowed suspiciously as he processed her words.

" 'Your relationship with me?' " he parroted as he crossed his arms, "By that you mean….what, exactly?"

"Precisely as it sounds. At the moment we are collaborators and acquaintances. I would like it if we could become more than that." C.C. told him bluntly.

"I….see." Lelouch said, drawing out his response to give his reeling mind more time to think.

'_Does she mean what I _think_ she means?_' Lelouch thought incredulously.

C.C. smiled as if she could read his mind.

"Yes, Lelouch. I would like to become your lover. Or your mistress. Either will suit me fine."

"Can…I ask precisely _why_?" Lelouch managed to get out.

The immortal gazed at him as if to say _'Are You Kidding?'_.

"Let me _see_. A handsome, honourable and strong man saves me from the clutches of an evil prince; directs a rag-tag crew of misfits to victory over vastly numerically superior forces; _captures_ said evil prince and allows me to exact my vengeance against him; then offering me sanctuary at his _own home_." C.C. recited, sarcasm evident in her voice, "_No_, I cannot _think_ of a single reason _whatsoever_ why I might feel indebted, attracted and grateful to you in any way."

Lelouch suspected she was enjoying this immensely.

"To sweeten the deal, I will break my connection with the person in Charles' Court, Lelouch." C.C. said softly, causing Lelouch to look at her intently. This was the first time she had used his name rather than 'boy', so she must be serious.

"How much does this person you are in contact with know about me?" he asked.

"Nothing, other than the fact you are male." C.C. replied.

Lelouch sat and thought for a moment.

"Is the link fully within your control?" he probed.

"Not entirely. I am the one who can open, close and sever it, however once opened, it must remain open for at least an hour before I can close it again, unless I am 'killed'. In addition, once the link is severed, the backlash will leave me somewhat light-headed for a while." C.C. told him.

Lelouch sighed in resignation. There were no two ways about it, this was a backdoor in his security he couldn't _not_ close. He had underestimated her tremendously: C.C. was extremely sneaky and ruthless when it came to getting what she wanted.

'_Kind of like Milly, now I come to think about it._' Lelouch thought wryly.

It wasn't like the idea of having the woman as a lover repulsed him, far from it in fact. The fact he was, despite his battalion of fan girls, a virgin was one part of his hesitation, the fact he was being slightly pressured into this was another.

"You really won't take no for an answer will you, C.C.?" Lelouch finally said, half-rhetorically.

C.C. batted her eyelashes at him in a come-hither fashion.

"When a girl sees something she wants, she doesn't stop at half measures if she wishes to get it." C.C. told him smugly.

"Hahhh. Fine then, I'll agree to your terms, on the condition you sever the connection right now while I have a shower." Lelouch relented with a sigh, recognising when he is outmanoeuvred.

"Agreed." C.C. said with a nod.

Lelouch then padded off to the shower, leaving C.C. to her task. She was glad she had been able to distract him with an abridged version of her life story. He wasn't yet ready to hear what he wished to know.

Closing her eyes, C.C. delved into the World of C, seeking the connection between herself and Marianne that she had forged after the woman had been killed by that jealous, petulant brat V.V.

'_The boy creates a contract with Charles to never lie to each other, then lies to him about killing her. Hypocrite._' C.C. thought with disgust as she set about dismantling the connection.

The fact the 'brat' in question was a good sixty years old was neither here nor there for the 700-year-old woman.

She felt the connection pulse. Apparently Marianne had felt what she was doing and was trying to get her to open the connection to find out what it was she was doing and why.

'_Sorry Marianne, but if I must choose between a former contractor and a current one, you know what my choice must be._' C.C. thought as she severed the last anchor of the connection, causing it to dissolve into nothing.

Immediately, she felt the backlash hit her and she felt immensely tired, yet relieved at the same time. Reabsorbing power from dissolving a mind-connection in C's World was always tiring as her body adjusted to the excess power that usually sustained and powered such links.

C.C. opened her eyes to see a sight for her eyes: a half-naked Lelouch with a towel around his waist, towelling his damp hair with another. It was all she could do not to drool. Her womanhood throbbed as well, in a most distracting way.

"You can go in now, if you want. I can't imagine Clovis'…._hospitality_ didn't run to much in general hygiene." Lelouch told her as he draped the towel over his shoulders.

C.C. nodded somewhat dazedly and tottered off to the shower. Once the door was shut, she leaned against it, panting.

'_My God. The boy…._Lelouch_….is amazing. I got wet just _looking_ at him half naked!_" C.C. thought in wonder.

She quickly stripped off the prisoner restraint suit and threw it in the bin. If she never saw the damn thing again, it would be too soon. As she stood under the heavenly torrent of hot water, she ran her hand over the ugly scar under her left breast.

It was the only wound on her body, the only blemish that never faded. The proof of her own contractor's betrayal of her.

The wound that killed her and activated the Code that had been forced on her.

She had, after recovering from her despair induced attempts at suicide, sworn to never do the same thing. A Code given in such a way was a curse. Her yearlong attempt at suicide was proof enough of that.

No, she would give her code to someone who both knew about it and wished to possess it. Then she would live the rest of a natural lifespan and die at long, long last.

She would wait, she decided, before telling Lelouch about the Code's transference conditions. If she sprung it on him too soon, there was no telling what his reaction would be.

As she dried her body, she began to feel nervous about what lay ahead. She was a virgin and she suspected he was as well, given all the visual cues she had been giving he missed.

'_Well, in for a penny, in for a Pound._' C.C. thought as she wrapped a large towel around herself and breathed deeply a couple of times before padding back to Lelouch's room.

_******Insert Lemon Here! Unfortunately, due to a prudish git, I can't post lemons anymore. Look to Archive of Our Own for the Lemon Scenes.******_

C.C. cuddled in with him and smiled at him somewhat shyly.

"That was incredible, Lelouch. Thank you." The immortal told him, blushing slightly.

"That was incredible, I agree." Lelouch said, blushing himself, "Now I can see why Rivalz is so eager to get a girlfriend."

"Rivalz?" C.C. asked with a small frown. She hadn't heard about him yet, save a passing reference to him during his tale to Sayoko.

"A friend of mine. He's the secretary of the Student Council and my gambling accomplice." Lelouch told her, putting an arm over her shoulders, earning him a pleased hum from the immortal, "He also has an unrequited crush on Milly Ashford, the Student Council President and his grand ambition in life is to 'get a girlfriend and spectacularly lose his virginity before he turns eighteen', or so he says."

C.C. shook her head at that and returned to smiling up at Lelouch, her mind still unable to believe how he had made her feel better, both physically _and_ mentally, than she had in centuries.

"Well, we've both had a long day, so we really should get some sleep." Lelouch said, looking down at the woman in his arms, his eyes seeking permission.

C.C. nodded and Lelouch turned the lights off, plunging the room into darkness.

Soon, Lelouch was asleep, his light and regular breathing a soothing rhythm for C.C. as she steadily became more sleepy.

Just before she fell asleep, the immortal smirked and though, '_Accursed Nun! Foul betrayer! One part of your curse has been lifted! I can _feel_ again! Just you wait. I _will_ rid myself of this curse of Immortality and be free of your memory forever!_'

In the corridor outside, a red faced Sayoko stood, frozen with shock. She had heard a disturbance and had moved to investigate. She hadn't expected what she had discovered however.

Irrationally, she felt somewhat jealous of C.C. for being able to sleep with **her** Goshujin-sama. _Wait, Jealous?_

'_This is ridiculous. You are twenty-four years old, Sayoko! Lelouch-sama is seventeen! You've even sworn yourself to him and sworn not to interfere with their relationship as part of your contract with C.C.-sama!_' Sayoko mentally scolded herself as she unfroze and walked off.

She needed time to think thing through.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

_Next Chapter: Kallen and the Student Council._

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**Authors Note:** **Well, that's it for this chapter. I seem to write more each chapter. Is that a bad thing?**

**This chapter has several twists, the most important two being Lelouch getting informed of Geass intoxication and how to counter it, and Sayoko getting a Geass. What do you think of it? Read and review!**

**In the Poll, thus far 53 people have voted. Out of over 6000 people who have read my story this month. A few have said that they don't like to vote on a poll without a wee overview. I merely wish to see what title catches your attention the most, with zero background info to go on.**

**See you on the 30****th****!**


	7. 5-5: The Emperor's Reaction

**Disclaimer: I own Code Geass about as much as Lelouch likes his old man.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 5.5: The Emperor's Reaction**

**Sword of Akasha, C's World**

"Marianne, what did you just say?" Charles zi Britannia said, an uncommon perturbed look upon his regal face.

"I **said** that C.C. has severed our connection." The person speaking, by appearance, was Anya Alstreim, The Knight of Six. However, Charles knew that the person currently suppressing Anya's mind and speaking through it was Marianne vi Britannia, the one person in the world he loved and, in life, one of his 108 Imperial Consorts.

They were currently standing on the main platform of The Sword of Akasha, the weapon Charles planned to destroy the Collective Consciousness of mankind, otherwise known as God.

Anya's face was currently screwed up in a confused fashion, making Anya look rather odd.

"I tried to communicate with her, but all I got was a feeling of….sadness. Sadness mixed with determination. I don't understand why she would sever the connection like this!" Marianne was pacing Anya's body like a caged tiger now, her host's brows furrowed in thought.

"I…might know." Charles reluctantly admitted to his dead wife. Marianne span around and fixed him with a glare that looked almost comical on Anya's face, but from past experience, Charles knew better than to underestimate his spouse when she had that look on her (or Anya's) face.

"About a year and a half ago, Clovis captured C.C. in Area 11. The young fool was trying to artificially duplicate her Code and thus, her immortality." Charles shook his head at the foolishness of his son before continuing, "I only found out about it six months ago."

"What did you do to her, Charles?" Marianne's voice was frosty, so she had guessed what he had done, Charles surmised with a sigh.

'_As expected of my true wife. She can read me like a book._' Charles thought fondly as he prepared himself for Marianne's inevitable reaction.

"I sent him a Geass Suppression Field Generator blueprint." He told his wife, "I also gave him an unofficial blessing for his project."

"Charles! How _could_ you?!" Marianne was beside herself with anger, "C.C. is an ally! Or at least she _was_ before you did that! She agreed to give us her Code! All we needed was two more Thought Elevators and we could have killed God! Just what were you thinking?!"

"Brother told me that it was better to keep her in one, easily accessible place rather than have to track her down when we need her." Charles said with a barely noticeable shrug.

Marianne scoffed at that, making one of Charles' eyebrows raise in silent query.

"Oh, don't give me that spiel, Charles." Marianne told him, disgust evident in her voice, "V.V. killed me because he was jealous of our relationship and I watched through Anya as The Ashford family and all my allies in and out of court were systematically banished, killed or disgraced. C.C. left before that could happen to her, but it looks like he finally caught up to her."

Charles' face darkened as he remembered being told Marianne had been murdered. He had been so shocked and filled with grief that he had been unduly harsh when dealing with Lelouch when he made his court appearance to demand answers.

The Emperor of Britannia clenched his fist as he saw in his mind the hate-filled, accusing gaze of his eleventh son as he cast off his succession rights to the throne and all but accused the Emperor of being complicit in her assassination.

That had pushed Charles over his limits and he had risen from his throne and beaten Lelouch into unconsciousness with his own hands. He had, of course altered the memories of all present, barring Lelouch, using his Geass.

The next day, C.C. had brought Anya to him and Marianne had possessed Anya for the first time and proven who she was. Then she had told him what had actually happened. All this after he had altered the memories of Nunnally, Lelouch and a handful of other nobles to conform to V.V.'s story.

Needless to say, Charles had been furious.

He had calmed down and mentioned Marianne's death to his brother on his next meeting with him, to which V.V. had merely replied that it was unfortunate that she had died.

He had lied.

His brother. Had _lied_. To _him_.

V.V. had broken the contract between them to never lie to each other. Charles had been unable to believe it at the time and still had trouble believing it sometimes.

Shortly afterwards, C.C. had left the Court and disappeared just before, as Marianne had pointed out, all of Marianne's old allies began suffering mishaps and disgrace.

Charles shook his head and brought himself out of his memories. Regarding the Marianne-possessed Anya, he sighed again as he massaged his eyes with a gloved hand.

"Yes, I screwed up, Marianne, but there is another factor that you are unaware of."

"Oh?" Marianne cocked her head in exasperated curiosity, "What _else_ have you done, Charles?"

"I did nothing." Charles defended himself from his Consort's accusations, "C.C. has made a new contract with someone."

Marianne's eyes rolled at this.

"I know _that_ Charles. I was connected with her at the time, although all I know is that the Contractor is male."

"The identity of the Contractor is Lelouch." Charles spoke softly, his voice barely audible to Marianne, but she heard him nevertheless.

"W-What?!" Marianne's borrowed body had frozen in shock at this revelation, her eyes going distant as she remembered her oldest child, his intense love for his sister and herself, his brilliant intellect and Charles' report on how quickly he had grown to hate his distant father after her death and Nunnally's mutilation.

"How do you know?" Marianne asked him.

"He had C.C. kill Clovis." Charles' voice held no sympathy for his dead son. Marianne's eyes widened.

"C.C. killed Clovis? How did she even get close enough to draw a bead on him?" Marianne queried. As the Third Prince and Viceroy of Area 11, Clovis should have been under almost constant Vigil by his Royal Guard, "And how did Lelouch find out about and retrieve C.C.?"

"C.C. was stolen by Eleven Terrorists, who apparently thought they were stealing Poison Gas. I don't know how Lelouch got involved, but he freed her and then took command of the Terrorists in Shinjuku and dealt an almost overwhelming defeat to Clovis' forces there." Charles told her, almost by rote.

"Oh my." Marianne breathed. This was not good. C.C. getting loose and teaming up with an exiled prince who had no love for either his former country or his father was one thing, but actually handing Britannia a decisive defeat -the first defeat since Itsukushima- was quite another.

"Just about the only positive happening at all yesterday was when Lelouch almost destroyed Schneizel's little toy, the Lancelot." Charles snorted at the fanciful naming his second eldest son's research group had given a Knightmare.

"How did he do it?" Marianne was curious how her son had accomplished such a feat.

"He tried to drop half of the old Tokyo City Hall on top of it, apparently." Charles replied, his voice showing amusement at the manner the Lancelot had been defeated.

Marianne stared at Charles for a second then burst out laughing.

"Hahahabhahaha! As expected of my son!" Marianne cheered out, Anya's body dancing like a lunatic.

"I received the preliminary report a few hours ago from a Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald. He was once a member of the Palace Guard, stationed in the Aries Villa." Charles carried on, ignoring his wife and her antics.

"Oh, Jeremy?" Marianne smiled at Charles, "He was an excellent guard. He stopped that brat Carina from picking on Nunnally more than once by pretending to have to take her to a lesson. He's a good soldier."

"He is also brutally honest in his facts. Not including the Lancelot, we lost over 40 Knightmares, two-dozen tanks and half a dozen VTOLs." Charles told her grimly.

"Oh my."

"To top it off, Clovis couldn't remember anything for a period of ten minutes before he was killed by C.C., meaning Lelouch used his Geass on him." Charles ground out.

"Did you try using your Geass on Clovis' spirit?" Marianne asked.

"Of course I did, for all the good it did me." Charles replied, "Evidently I cannot recover memories that have been destroyed by someone else's Geass, even unintentionally. Either that, or my Geass cannot affect someone who is already dead."

Marianne cursed for a moment. This meant that they had no idea what Lelouch's Geass was or any of its limitations.

"What do you intend to do?" Marianne asked her husband.

"I've sent orders to Margrave Jeremiah to become the Temporary Viceroy of Area 11 until Clovis' replacement arrives." Charles told her.

"Oh? Who are you thinking of? Guinevere? Odysseus?" Marianne asked with a sly smirk. She knew Charles would rather dance naked on live television than let either of those two imbeciles out from under his sight.

"No." Charles said flatly. Evidently he knew she was teasing him, "I was thinking Cornelia, with Euphemia as Sub-Viceroy."

"Lelouch's two favourite sisters, besides Nunnally. Oh, you _are_ evil Charles!" Marianne giggled.

Charles smiled down at his wife's temporary body.

"I do try, dear." He said dryly, "Lelouch accused Clovis of being complicit in your murder, so C.C. evidently hasn't told him the truth of the matter yet. Following on logically from that, he will jump at the chance to interrogate the former head of your bodyguard. Hopefully Lelouch is just as cocky as he was seven years ago and will underestimate Cornelia, leading to either his capture or death."

Noticing a slightly uncomfortable look on Marianne's borrowed face, he placed a hand on her shoulder, making her look up at him.

"Failing that, I doubt he will miss the chance to become reacquainted with Euphemia either. As soft and pacifistic as she is, she will serve a dual role: First as the 'Velvet Glove' to Cornelia's 'Iron Fist' and secondly as bait for Lelouch." Charles spoke softly to his wife in order to ease her distress.

Despite the plan to use the Sword of Akasha, she still didn't want to have to feel her children dying and passing on to C's World. Charles would accommodate her as much as possible, as he hated seeing her sad above all else.

"That sounds good." Marianne said, recovering herself slightly. She smiled sadly at Charles, "Sorry for worrying you, dear."

Charles shook his head with a small smile. He didn't mind bowing to her wishes like this every so often. In the long run, Lelouch was a minor fly in the ointment that was the means to re-acquire C.C., nothing more.

"Now, we had better part here. Brother is due to come for an update soon and Anya is on standby tomorrow, so you had better let her body get some sleep."

"Very well Charles. You need some sleep as well, so don't spend all night talking with V.V., ok?"

"Yes, dear."

The couple parted, one to stare at the clouds surrounding the platform, the other to leave the World of C.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Author's Note:** It occurred to me that a lot of people were wondering what Charles and Marianne's reactions to C.C. and Lelouch sleeping together would be.

In the spirit of things, all chapter x.5's are going to focus on Charles and Marianne from here on out. Look forward to it!

Catch you in two days for Chapter 6!


	8. Kallen and the Student Council

**Author's Note: Sorry my update is slightly late. I got caught up playing Batman: Arkham Origins.**

**Anyhow, a random guest reviewer asked if Lelouch will be snapping arms and breaking necks. The answer is no.**

**Aikido is classed as a defensive marital art. Its philosophical aim is to defend oneself whilst simultaneously keeping the opponent reasonably healthy, thanks in no small part to the creator's religious views and Aikido's origins in Jujutsu.**

**So, while it might be fun, no broken limbs or vertebrae in this story I'm afraid.**

**DP11 pointed out how Marianne is not mother of the year in Canon. I agree she was a less than stellar behind the scenes in canon, but in my story (as you will find out in chapter 17-18, I think?) she actually had something resembling a conscience, so her 'public face' is a bit more believable in my story.**

**Anyhow, ONWARDS TO THE FIC!**

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Code Geass. On with the Fic!**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 6: Kallen and the Student Council.**

**With Lelouch, Student Council Clubhouse, 08:00am.**

Lelouch stood in the centre of the Clubhouse with his eyes closed. He was dressed in a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a baggy white t-shirt and had his arms at his side, relaxed but prepared.

In a blur of motion, Lelouch travelled through a _kata_, or martial arts form, ending in a _shōmen'uchi _(Front-of-the-head Strike) against his imaginary foe. For the next ten minutes, he ran through multiple kata, ending with attacks ranging from the basic _mune-tsuki_ (Chest-Thrust) to a fairly advanced _tachitori _(Sword-taking) manoeuvre.

As he ran through them, Lelouch allowed his mind to wander free and consider all that happened yesterday.

He had commanded a ragtag group of Japanese Terrorists to victory against his elder brother and then had his accomplice, a 700 year old _immortal_ woman no less, execute his brother, but not until after extracting all useful information from him with a mysterious power said immortal had given him.

He had then come back and told Sayoko everything, his accomplice had bestowed yet _another_ mysterious ability upon his ninja-slash-maid and, to top the day off, he had _slept_ with his new accomplice.

'_What next? Mutants? Aliens? A Supervillian, perhaps?_' Lelouch thought sarcastically as he ended his practice and walked off to have breakfast with Nunnally.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip-2 hour's later-Student Council Office**

"Wake **up**, Lelouch!"

The cry was accompanied by a thwack across his head with a rolled up sheaf of papers.

"Your hand stopped moving, so I know you were asleep!" Came a swift admonishment after he raised his head.

Lelouch gave an exaggerated wince and mock-glared at the culprit. Millicent Ashford, or just plain 'Milly' as she preferred to be known, was widely known as one of the top ten beauties on campus. Her shoulder length blond hair framed an elegantly sculpted face, her legs were slender and toned and her three sizes were a much sought after secret by the male population of Ashford.

What most people didn't know was that beneath her elegance and beauty was a troublemaker of massive proportions. Milly was full of mischief, ranging from mild molestation of physically well endowed girls, to announcing a campus-wide festival for the most inane reasons, for example announcing that the dress code one day was swimsuits, in celebration of Shirley joining the Swimming Club.

The Student Council were currently rebalancing the budget for the umpteenth time after the fiasco of the Absolute Silence Party the previous month had taken a fair chunk of the budget from _this_ month.

Rivalz let out a chuckle.

"Serves you right for ditching me yesterday." the blue haired schoolboy said with a smirk.

Lelouch let out a yawn that was only slightly feigned.

"Well, I'm _sorry_ that my getting kidnapped by terrorists _inconvenienced_ you, Rivalz." Lelouch drawled out sarcastically.

All at once, all work in the office ceased and four pairs of eyes locked onto Lelouch.

Nina Einstein, a shy, plain girl with her hair in braids looked horrified at the idea of being kidnapped by Elevens.

Shirley Fenette, the girl with a not-so-secret crush on him, looked two parts horrified, one part worried. Her burnished gold eyes were alive with fear for Lelouch.

Milly and Rivalz were taken aback by Lelouch's sudden comment and Milly looked somewhat concerned as well.

"You were…kidnapped?" Milly asked softly.

"Well, more like 'accidentally taken along'." Lelouch amended, "I take it Rivalz has given you chapter and verse on how I fell into the truck and got carried off by it yesterday?"

A series of bobbing heads showed the answer was yes.

"Well, that truck was owned by Japanese terrorists. I think I heard VTOL's chasing the truck at one point." Lelouch said, his mind racing for a cover story that would hold up even if Kallen heard it, "I hid behind a bulky device of some sort for about three-quarters of an hour, when the truck crashed in the Shinjuku Ghetto."

The rest of the Student Council drew in a breath as he named the biggest Ghetto in Tokyo. No Britannian willingly set foot in those places unless they were either a soldier or insane.

"After the crash, I was stunned for a while and can't really remember much. Eventually, I staggered out of the truck and made to leave the Ghetto." Lelouch's voice turned grim at this, "Then I saw something I hoped to never see again."

"What did you see?" Shirley asked, rather subdued.

"A slaughter." Lelouch said grimly, his voice conveying distaste and disgust at every inflection, "Britannian troops were massacring the inhabitants of Shinjuku like dogs. Men, woman, children, the elderly….all were gunned down without mercy."

"T-That's impossible!" Nina protested shrilly, "They must have had weapons, or have co-operated with the terrorists or-or s_omething_!"

Lelouch felt like slapping the girl for that. Her Xenophobia was quite well known, not only for non-Britannians but for anyone she didn't already know. It made times like this awkward and uncomfortable.

"Nina, would a six year old girl constitute a threat? To _anyone_? Or an old woman in a wheelchair? No, I thought not." Lelouch asked Nina, who was unable to speak back without sounding ridiculous.

Lelouch shook his head and continued.

"Anyway, after dodging Britannian patrols, I finally managed to escape the Ghetto, only to be picked up by a patrol. They asked me a couple of questions, then asked me to come in for questions today sometime, so I'll need to take the afternoon off, Milly." Lelouch finished his story and looked at Milly.

The Ashford Heiress shook herself and nodded at him.

"I'll tell grandfather -the Dean, I mean- during lunch." she promised.

"Thank you, Milly." Lelouch said, gently smiling at her. He had known Milly since he had been a young boy and had been a victim of her pranks and antics both in Pendragon and in Ashford, so he took great satisfaction in seeing his childhood friend light up like a tomato.

"S-Sure, no problem." Milly managed to get out, her face still a glowing red. Lelouch noted that Nina was throwing him a rather jealous look his way. _So that's the way it is then?_

Lelouch stood up and nonchalantly handed Milly a completed revised budget for the next month. He had been writing as he spoke and had completed balancing the budget so every club could complete their scheduled activities without a hitch -barely.

"I have to let Sayoko know about this afternoon so she can plan accordingly. Later." Lelouch said as he walked out, leaving the Student Council staring at where he had been.

"Umm….Prez?" Shirley spoke up, still rather subdued, "What did Lulu mean when he said he had seen a massacre before?"

Milly sighed and flicked some of her long hair away from her face.

"Lelouch and Nuna were here in Area Eleven during the invasion, when this place was still Japan." She told the orangette, making Shirley, Rivalz and Nina gape at her.

"S-So when t-the Vice-P-President said he had seen a m-massacre…." Nina trailed off, horror filling her voice.

Milly nodded grimly, an unusually serious expression on her face. "Yes. Lelouch witnessed a massacre of Japanese civilians by Britannian forces before. Not only that, he had to carry Nuna over the bodies. He told me that it was the hardest thing he has ever had to do."

"Oh, Lulu…." Shirley whispered, her face pale and eyes bright with unshed tears for what her crush had been forced to watch.

It took the bell to get the stunned Council members moving after that.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Kallen, Ten minutes later….**

'_I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this…!_' was what Kallen Kōzuki, otherwise known to the damn Britannians around her as Kallen Stadtfelt, was chanting in her head like a mantra as she sat in her classroom, in her 'sick girl' persona.

Intellectually, she knew that acting meek, sickly and docile -the exact opposite of her actual persona- was a smart move to make, as all of her so-called friends could testify that she had never harmed so much as a fly, let alone a Britannian soldier, if they were ever even asked at all.

It still didn't stop her from _hating_ every minute of it.

'_Ohgi, I will restate how similar to Naoto-nii-sama you are and how damn irritating that little fact can be._' Kallen though sourly.

Ohgi had told her to 'lie low' at Ashford for a while, at least until the whole Shinjuku matter was off the news, which irritated Kallen immensely.

She had _tried_ to argue that the mysterious K-1 had discovered her identity, so it wasn't safe. Ohgi had countered that K-1 had implied that Ashford would be where he would contact her, so she could lie low and await contact from their mysterious saviour.

Her classmates were watching the news on a portable TV, and the contents of the news made Kallen's hatred for Britannians flare up.

The bastard Britannians were claiming that her resistance group had set off the poison gas in Shinjuku, even going so far as to broadcast a picture of dead bodies supposedly killed by the gas.

'_Bodies that clearly have _bullet-holes _in them! Are these Brits _completely_ stupid?!_' Kallen seethed to herself as her classmates gawked at the TV screen.

DING-DONG!

A chime came over the speakers of the public address system, making Kallen look up in curiosity.

"**This is an announcement from the Student Council. Could Miss Kallen Stadtfelt come to the Student Council Clubhouse, I repeat: Could Miss Kallen Stadtfelt please make her way to the Student Council Clubhouse immediately. And no, Milly, you are not to come running to see what is happening, or next time I won't help you with the budget."** The address clicked off after the brief announcement.

Kallen was confused. Why would the Student Council need to speak with her? All of her frequent absences were dismissed with the fake doctor's note she had arranged with Ohgi. And who was Milly?

"Kallen, you'd better go." Suzie, one of her 'friends' told her, "That was Vice-President Lelouch on the speakers. He almost _never_ uses the address system, so it must be serious."

Kallen nodded. "Umm…who is Milly?" she asked in a timid, quiet voice that made her want to throw up.

"Milly Ashford, the Student Council President!" Suzie was surprised at Kallen's lack of knowledge of the school, before remembering that her friend hadn't been in school long enough to get to know who was who, so she decided to fill her friend in.

"Milly Ashford is the Ashford Heiress, so she has a lot of leeway in how she runs the school, but her skill at organisation is….somewhat lacking, so Lelouch Lamperouge, the Vice-President is, for all intents and purposes, the one who runs the Council on a day-to-day basis, so his threat right now to not help balance the budget a very real one."

Kallen sweatdropped at the in-depth briefing her 'friend' gave her, adding another sweatdrop as she processed how oddly the Student Council seemed to operate.

Sighing, she thanked Suzie for her help and made her way to the student Council's Clubhouse.

When she got there she paused for a moment to gape at the 'Clubhouse'.

'_Clubhouse my ass, it's a damn mini-palace!_' was her first thought at the first sight of the building. It was built like a villa, not a clubhouse!

'_Damn extravagant Britannians!_' the redhead grumbled mentally as she forced herself to walk at a slow and measured pace towards the main entrance.

As she reached the door, it opened on the inside, revealing a Japanese woman in a maid's outfit.

"Miss Kallen Stadtfelt?" the woman enquired in a soft voice.

"Y-Yes." Kallen replied.

"This way please. Lelouch-sama is waiting." With that, the maid turned and led the way in.

Kallen followed on automatic, but was internally stunned. When the woman in front of her had called this Lelouch character '-sama', she had not detected any resentment or sarcasm in her voice.

'_Just who is this Lelouch character anyway?_' Kallen thought with narrowed eyes.

She gawked again at the opulent ballroom she was being led through, though she supposed she shouldn't be surprised. An opulent exterior would indicate an opulent interior after all.

The maid led her up the flight of stairs to the second level, where Kallen saw a black-haired boy around her age sitting at a desk on the far side of the room, filling out and signing reports it seemed.

"My Lord, Kallen Stadtfelt is here for your meeting." The maid called to the busy figure.

The boy looked up and regarded first the maid, then Kallen with unusual violet-coloured eyes.

Kallen shivered slightly. Those eyes seemed to look right _through_ her.

"Ah, so she is. Thank you, Sayoko." The boy spoke in a well educated, almost aristocratic way, enunciating each word with care, but not too slowly.

Kallen found herself starting to blush at being under his unblinking gaze for such an extended period of time. She hurriedly sat down at the seat opposite Lelouch.

Abruptly, he looked towards the maid -Sayoko- and addressed her.

"Sayoko, can you bring up some _sencha_ (Green Tea) and a few _Wagashi _(Traditional Japanese Confectionaries) for Miss Stadtfelt and me?"

"Certainly, My Lord. Would _Anmitsu_ (Jelly cubes with fruit) and _Mochi_ (Japanese Rice Cake) suffice?"

"They will do fine." Lelouch replied, and then turned to Kallen, "Miss Stadtfelt? Will either of those cause you any problems?"

"N-No. I'll be fine." she replied somewhat nervously. Why was he offering her sencha and wagashi? He was Britannian, wasn't he?

Lelouch nodded to Sayoko, who promptly vanished so quickly Kallen had to blink. One second she was there, the next she was gone.

"Sayoko is fond of that little disappear/reappear trick, she refuses to tell me how she does it." Lelouch told her, a fond smile on his face.

"A woman must have some secrets, My Lord." Sayoko's voice came from behind Kallen and gave the redhead quite a shock.

As Sayoko served them both tea and wagashi, Lelouch spoke.

"I lived in Area Eleven while it was still Japan and became quite fond of _sencha _and _wagashi_ during my stay. I'm afraid it's an eating habit I haven't managed to break." The last part was said with a mild chuckle before being silenced by him sipping his tea.

Kallen, in turn, sipped _her_ tea, humming slightly in pleasure at the taste that proclaimed it to be high quality sencha. As she did, she carefully examined the person sitting opposite her.

His hair was ebon black and his eyes were a startling shade of violet. His face could be called either androgynous or feminine. His build was sturdy and his posture was impeccable.

"Now Miss Stadtfelt, let's get down to business, shall we?" Lelouch asked after having another sip of his tea.

Kallen nodded and put her tea down as well.

"What is it you wished to discuss with me?" she asked timorously.

Lelouch stared into her eyes before he spoke.

"{You will answer my questions.}"

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Lelouch's Perspective**

As he activated his Geass, Lelouch reflected on how bad a mask this girl was wearing. It was like trying to disguise a Doberman as a Poodle, really.

How she hadn't been outed before now was amazing. Still, it was time to make certain he had made a wise decision in choosing to join up with her group.

Kallen had fallen into the Geass trance and had straightened up. She affirmed his order in the strong, independent voice he remembered from Shinjuku.

"Of course."

"Are you the pilot of the red Glasgow from Shinjuku?"

"Yes."

"Why terrorism?"

"Because I'm Japanese, although technically I'm half-Britannian."

Lelouch's eyebrow rose slightly. Half-blood Britannians were not exactly uncommon, but they were very rarely acknowledged or made Heirs to families, especially ones in prominent positions such as the Stadtfelt Family.

"You must have a Japanese name then. What is it?"

"Kōzuki."

"I see…..Moving on then…"

Over the next ten minutes he quizzed her about her brother, the members of the resistance cell and her skills with a Knightmare.

When he finished his questions, Lelouch deactivated his Geass.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

In a room not too far away, Sayoko removed a disk from the security system. It held the footage of Lelouch Geassing Kallen in the ballroom, taken by one the hidden cameras seeded throughout the building.

Sayoko hesitated. She had been ordered to destroy the disk by Lelouch, but something made her hesitate.

'_Lelouch-sama is correct that this footage can't be seen by anyone. However…I think I must keep a hold of this rather than destroy it. Better safe than sorry._' Sayoko reasoned, putting the disk into a case and slipping it into a pocket in her apron.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Kallen's Perspective**

"Miss Stadtfelt?"

Kallen snapped out of a daze and looked at Lelouch.

"H-Huh?" was her intelligent reply.

"You've been staring into space for a while. Your tea has gone cold." Lelouch pointed to her cup, which had been piping hot and was now cold.

Kallen blushed in embarrassment at wasting such high quality tea and stammered out an apology.

Lelouch waved a hand dismissively. "It's alright. Listening to changes in school regulations while you were off sick would send anyone to sleep, myself included, so it's no problem. I'll just give you a printout."

"T-Thank you…" Kallen got out as she wracked her brains, trying to remember any of the rules he had been talking about and came up blank.

'_I can't believe I zoned out that badly!_' She scolded herself mentally as she accepted the printout from Lelouch.

"Now, that was one of three reasons I called you here." Lelouch continued after she put the printout away, "The second reason is this."

From a drawer, Lelouch pulled a package and handed it to her. It was about 7 inches long and maybe 4 inches wide and wrapped in brown paper. In the centre, Kallen's name was prominently visible.

"This was delivered to the Student Council earlier this morning." Lelouch explained, "I have run a chemical sniffer over it, and there is no trace of any drugs or explosive compounds inside it, so I am free to pass it on to you."

"Why do you have a chemical sniffer in a school?" Kallen asked, sweatdropping at the idea of an Academy having such a thing.

"The students of Ashford are the scions of rich and powerful families, so any and all packages are checked for any potential threats to them." Lelouch explained to Kallen, who slowly nodded.

Kallen shook her head to bring herself back to reality and pocketed the package.

Lelouch's face became serious.

"I will have to ask that whoever sent you that package not do so again, as one of the new rules is that no personal mail is to be sent to school."

"Of course." Kallen agreed, "I'll….inform the person who sent me this of the new rule directly."

"Excellent." Lelouch said with a small smile, "Now, the last thing I need to discuss with you is regarding a long standing school rule."

"Oh?" Kallen tilted her head to the side slightly, having a sneaking suspicion about which rule he could be talking about.

"The rule in question requires all students to join a club during their time here and, according to the records; you haven't joined one at all." Lelouch told her as he flicked through some sheaves of paper, casually sorting them into different piles as he spoke.

"I…that is, I can't join a club because-" Kallen started to trot out her 'sick girl' excuse, but was interrupted by Lelouch.

"-Because your body is weak and sickly, yes?" Lelouch said with a small smirk as he saw her start is surprise, "Yes, I am aware of your infirmity and happily, I have been able to come up with a compromise of sorts."

"Compromise?" Kallen regarded Lelouch with mild suspicion and wariness.

"Indeed. My compromise is you joining the Student Council." Lelouch said in a perfectly deadpan voice.

"HUH?!" Kallen gaped at him in astonishment. Lelouch shrugged.

"I will be frank with you, Miss Stadtfelt; I am in desperate need of help on the Student Council." Lelouch told her frankly, "Milly uses the budget up on nonsensical ideas, the Secretary spends most of his time trying to get a date with Milly and out of the two regular members, one is so timid and xenophobic that talking to her is…problematic…at best and the other member is actually fairly good with paperwork, but is a favourite target of Milly's teasing, so is stymied in doing her work thanks to that."

"So you're basically the only one actually accomplishing anything worthwhile in the Council then." Kallen summed it up for him.

"Harsh, but accurate." Lelouch nodded at her, "You, Miss Stadtfelt, despite having spent the majority of last year off sick, your GPA is a perfect 4.0. In addition, Milly will be forced to hold off on teasing you too much because of your fragile health. And your obligation to join a club will be fulfilled."

Kallen considered the idea. It _would_ satisfy that irritating little rule that she had been dodging for the last year or so. On the other hand, she didn't know nearly enough about how the Student Council operated, so she decided to ask a few questions first.

"What kind of activities do the Student Council do?" She asked.

"Well, in the main, we organise school-wide events, set the budgets for the various clubs and act as a deterrent to Milly's wild ideas- or at least we try to anyway." Lelouch told her, a wry look appearing on his face when he spoke of trying to stop Milly's mad ideas.

Kallen sweatdropped at this confirmation of Suzie's small briefing of the Student Council President then shook her head and continued on.

"When you say school-wide events, do you mean like the Culture Festival?" she asked for confirmation.

"And the Crossdresser's Ball, and The Absolute Silence Party AND Swimsuit Day." Lelouch recited with a deadpan look on his face.

Kallen sweatdropped again. "What the heck?"

"I did say Milly has some wild ideas, didn't I?" Lelouch replied with a shrug.

"I see….are there any perks to being in the Student Council?" she asked, although she doubted there would be. It _was_ just a Student Council after all.

"Actually, there are a few advantages." Lelouch told her, "Thanks to Milly, we have a level of access that even the faculty doesn't have. There is almost nowhere on campus that we cannot go."

"Wow." Kallen was actually impressed by that.

'_That kind of access would be useful in sneaking out, if I had to._' She thought to herself.

"I know, right? My personal favourite though, has to be the tunnels." Lelouch confided to her. Noticing her confused look, Lelouch expanded on the subject.

"When the Academy was taken over by the Ashford Family, the Britannian Tokyo Settlement was still being built, so the Academy was used as a kind of nexus station for workers using the underground tunnels. After the Settlement was completed, the tunnels were forgotten about. Using them, you can reach any area of the Tokyo Settlement, except the Area 11 Administration Building and the military bases." Lelouch explained.

Kallen was stunned. If she had access to the tunnels, she could get to almost anywhere in the Settlement _easily_. A bit of paperwork was nothing compared to being able to do that.

Mind made up, Kallen looked at Lelouch and nodded. "I'll join the Council. By the sounds of it, you need all the help you can get."

Lelouch gave her a grateful grin. "Excellent! Your inauguration party is scheduled for tomorrow after school. There I'll introduce you to the rest of the team. Sound OK?"

"Umm…sure." Kallen was taken aback by the swiftness of her inauguration. Then, a nasty thought occurred to her.

"Would this happen to be the President's whim, by any chance?" Kallen asked suspiciously.

Lelouch shrugged unabashedly at her. "She saw you in the corridors today and decided you were going to be a part of the Student Council. I decided to actually entice you into joining, rather than suffer the full weight of being persuaded by Milly."

"Fair enough." Kallen allowed, begrudgingly.

"Well now, I have a meeting to attend in town, so we must part ways for now, Miss Stadtfelt." Lelouch said, sounding somewhat regretful.

He stood up and walked around the desk. Kallen stood up as well and was about to walk off, when a thought occurred to her.

"Umm….Vice-President?" she called after him.

Lelouch stopped and turned around.

"Just Lelouch, please." he said with a smile.

"OK, you call me Kallen then." she replied. She _hated_ being reminded of her Britannian lineage.

"Fair enough. Now, did you want something?" Lelouch asked.

"About this package that got delivered…who delivered it?" Kallen asked, withdrawing the package in question from her blazer pocket.

Lelouch frowned in thought. "I honestly couldn't say. Just a delivery man I think. Why?"

"Just…curious." Kallen mumbled, disappointed that there was no lead on K-1.

"Well then, I bid you good day. Sayoko will show you the way out." Lelouch nodded cordially at her, then walked off.

Kallen followed Sayoko after she did what Lelouch had termed her 'disappear/reappear trick' and was bowed out the door.

As she walked, Kallen reflected on the last half hour. She had met the Student Council Vice-President and had been convinced to join the Council, before being informed the President would have coerced her to join the next day anyway.

She had also been delivered a mysterious package by an unknown individual. Kallen removed the package from her pocket and gave it a once over. There was no sender address, courier ID number or stamp on it, so she presumed whoever had sent it had had it delivered by hand.

Curiosity overcoming her, she tore off the wrapping to reveal a second layer. More writing was on the same side her name had been written on.

"_Q-1-_

_Don't open any more of this package._

_Unwrap the rest and be alone by 9 O'clock tonight._

_-K-1"_

Kallen flushed at being read so easily by K-1 _yet_ _again_. She knew she wasn't _that_ easy to read, so how did someone who had never met her manage to do so with apparent ease?

Kallen re-pocketed the package and walked back to class. Hopefully, K-1 would have some answers for her tonight.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch**

From a window on the second floor of the Clubhouse, Lelouch watched Kallen walk off with a small grin on his face. She had acted exactly as he had anticipated.

"Sayoko, did you take care of the security footage?" He asked, not needing to turn around to know his maid has silently entered the room.

"Hai, Lelouch-sama." Sayoko replied. She walked over to stand next to him and watched the shrinking vision of Kallen Stadtfelt/Kōzuki walking towards the main building of Ashford Academy.

"I wish you would allow me to accompany you on your excursion, My Lord." Sayoko remarked yet again. She had been trying to convince him to allow her to go with him ever since he had told her his plans for the day before breakfast.

Lelouch just turned his head to look at her and shook his head once. Sayoko sighed and lowered her head in acquiescence.

"While I'm out Sayoko, could you take the Sutherland I captured and take it to Theta Base?" Lelouch asked, once he was sure his maid had finally given up the idea of following him on his mission today.

Sayoko looked startled. Theta Base was Lelouch's hidden trump card he had spent the vast majority of his gambling money on building, enlarging and improving it. He had never allowed her to enter it. Her startled eyes met his calm violet orbs and he nodded slightly at her.

"You have sworn yourself to me, Sayoko. Therefore you are entitled to know my secrets, starting with Theta Base." Lelouch told her with a small smile.

Overwhelmed with pride at the trust her Goshujin-sama was putting in her, Sayoko bowed low, Japanese-style.

"As you command, Goshujin-sama." She replied, her voice not revealing the pride and joy she was feeling at his trust in her..

"While you are there, put the Sutherland in the AutoPainter, set it for Sutherlands, then run paint scheme BK-C-01." He told her as he shrugged on his rust-coloured windbreaker, "Once that is done, return via the first elevator."

"What about me, Lelouch?" C.C.'s voice called from his bedroom.

"You, C.C., are to order some new clothes. I take it you want Sayoko to dispose of the prisoner's suit while she's at Theta Base?" Lelouch called back with a small grin.

"Yes please. If I have to look at the damn thing again, I swear I will hurt someone." C.C.'s voice held a mild amount of loathing for the solitary reminder of her imprisonment.

"Very well. A credit card is in my top drawer and a clothing catalogue is on the sideboard in the living room. Get as much as you like, but just don't break my balance, ok?" Lelouch told the immortal.

"Do you mind if I order some takeaway while I'm at it since Sayoko is going to be out most of the day?"

Lelouch shrugged, then realised C.C. couldn't see him.

"Of course. But please, don't answer the door naked." Lelouch added that last part hastily.

"Awww. Don't tell me you're getting possessive already?" C.C.'s voice was lightly teasing, but held a hint of genuine curiosity.

Lelouch chuckled slightly.

"Last I checked we ARE lovers, so is it a bad thing to not want other men to see your body?" This prompted Sayoko to flush slightly.

There was a small pause from his bedroom before C.C. spoke again, her voice stilted slightly.

"You know, if it were not for the fact you have to go out soon, I'd drag you in here and jump you for saying such a thing. As it is, I'll leave that until tonight."

"Nice to know." Lelouch commented as he grabbed a bag that contained the soldier uniform he wore yesterday.

"Be careful, my Lord." Sayoko told her Master, "It will be difficult for you to accomplish all that you want to today."

Lelouch and Sayoko began walking towards the main doors to the Clubhouse.

"Thank you for your concern, Sayoko, but I think I will be fine." Lelouch told her firmly, "All tasks at hand have all the initial groundwork already laid out. All I need to do is successfully build on them."

"As you say, my Lord." Lelouch winced slightly. Whenever Sayoko said _that_, she was practically screaming disapproval of what he was about to do.

"Look, just….trust me on this, ok?" Lelouch said, stopping and looking Sayoko in the eyes. Sayoko blushed a bit as she could see the determination in Lelouch's eyes and she could even sense the confidence he had in his plan, whatever it was.

"Be sure to arrive in time for dinner tonight, my Lord. Lady Nunnally will be disappointed if you miss two successive dinners in a row. She enjoys spending time with you alone." Sayoko said, finally _truly_ giving up attempting to accompany Lelouch.

"I will, Sayoko. Take care now." With that, Lelouch exited the building and setting out for his destination: The base of operations of the Pureblood Faction.

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**Next Chapter: The Knight of Orange.**

**Author's Note: And that's all I wrote. Now, some of you must be thinking 'Is Theta Base just another name for the old Ashford Knightmare Factory?'**

**I can tell you NO, it isn't. Want to know more, stick around and find out in chapter 8.**

**Now, regarding my poll, I have decided to make it more interesting by randomly deleting one of the choices after I update my story. Which one? Check and find out….**

**Next update: 16****th**** of November.**


	9. The Knight of Orange

**Authors Note: Yes, I am late with this update. For that you have my apologies, but thing in real life blindsided me, so I'm afraid it couldn't be helped.**

**As an apology, I wrote this chapter to be longer than normal, so enjoy it!**

**KarnDragon: Actually, C.C. has killed Clovis in other fics. Most of those are ones that has Nunnally as the main character, though, and C.C. killed Clovis because she couldn't. **

**MisterJoke: Don't worry; Lelouch isn't going to be a Gary Stu. He isn't going to make the same mistakes as in canon, but he will lose battles.**

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**Disclaimer: I take no credit for Code Geass. I do take credit for altering it to suit my whims, however, so any OC's and Original Knightmares not mentioned in Canon are mine.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 7: The Knight of Orange**

**The Office of Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald, Pureblood Central Command Base, Britannian Tokyo Settlement**

Jeremiah Gottwald groaned as he waded through the seemingly endless 'necessary' paperwork that needed to be filled out for his temporary assumption of the office of Viceroy.

When he had received word that he was being assigned as the interim-Viceroy, he had initially been delighted. _Then_ he had been introduced to the stacks of paperwork he had to fill out in order to assume office by a pompous Courtier.

To be filled out in Triplicate.

When an exasperated Jeremiah had asked precisely _why_ so much paperwork was required for a mere temporary appointment, the court toady had actually drawn himself up and blustered that it was 'against _protocol_ for anyone _but_ a member of the Imperial Family or an Imperial General to be a Viceroy of a full Britannian Area, therefore the paperwork was there to quietly _discourage_ anyone else from attempting to gain the position'.

When Jeremiah had pointed out that he hadn't _asked_ to be made interim-Viceroy, the petty little man had merely sniffed and responded that the precise circumstances of appointment was _entirely_ beside the point.

That had been at midday. It was now 3 O'clock in the afternoon and Jeremiah was only halfway done. He cast his gaze to the other desk in the room, where Villetta Nu was sitting and filling out _her_ paperwork.

When she had found out about the amount of red tape Jeremiah had to deal with, she had tried -and failed- to not laugh at his misfortune. Jeremiah had taken his revenge by appointing _her_ as the interim _Sub-Viceroy_, meaning she had her _own_ pile of forms to fill out in triplicate.

Jeremiah had maintained a neutral expression as her face paled at the realisation.

The barrage of insults she had hurtled his way had been _music_ to his ears.

Currently, Villetta's face bore a scowl as she finished yet another form and laid it to one side. Stretching her arms, she leaned back with a sigh before noticing Jeremiah's gaze upon her.

"I hope you realise that I _will_ find a way to pay you back for this, Lord Jeremiah." Villetta said darkly as she directed her scowl at him.

"Whatever for, Villetta? I haven't the _faintest_ idea what you could _possibly_ hold a grudge against me for." Jeremiah responded to her innocently, his face bland and unemotional.

"Humph." Villetta snorted at her commander's act as she stood and headed for the door, "I'm going for some coffee. Want some?"

"Please." Jeremiah nodded in gratitude.

"See you in five." Villetta strode out the door as Jeremiah turned his attention back to the mound of paperwork with a small groan.

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**Front Gate, Pureblood Base**

Private Dan Smith was bored out of his mind.

He had been guarding this gate for over two hours and in that time, no-one had entered or left. He still had another two hours to go until he was relieved and he was tempted to try and get some sleep while that time elapsed.

On one hand, he wanted to sleep, but on the _other_, the last time he fell asleep on the job he had been caught by Villetta Nu and got a new asshole torn into him for his lapse. She had threatened that he would be assigned to permanent latrine cleaning duty if she caught him again.

While he was still debating whether or not to sleep or not, a soldier approached the gate.

When Dan showed no signs of reacting to the soldier's presence, the figure standing in front of him waved his hand in front of Dan's face.

Still getting no reaction, the soldier clicked his fingers a couple of times in Dan's face and, upon receiving no response yet again, growled impatiently and yelled at the daydreaming Dan.

"ATTENTION!"

Dan, his body moving on autopilot, snapped to attention. His arm was actually moving into a salute before his mind caught up with him.

"E-Eh? W-Wha-?" Dan started to speak, but was cut off by the irate soldier in front of him.

"You _useless_ excuse for a soldier! Just what the _hell_ were you just doing?" The man seemed to be levitating in fury.

"Eh, ah, I-That is, I was guarding the gate." Dan managed to get out. The soldier in front of him had his helmet on so he couldn't be certain, but Dan could _feel_ the glare coming from him.

Dan gulped. He had a bad feeling about what was going to come next.

The soldier, upon hearing the supposed Gate Sentry's excuse, seemed to swell up.

"_Guarding the gate?! _Soldier, if I was an Eleven Terrorist, I could have killed you a couple of dozen different ways and _that_ is just from long range!" The soldier seemed very offended by Dan's carelessness and was proceeding to take a strip off of him.

He _hated_ being right.

"Daydreaming on duty is almost as bad as _sleeping_ on duty. I'm going to have to report this." The soldier told him firmly.

"W-Wait! Please! Lady Villetta has threatened to have me put on permanent Latrine Duty if I'm caught sleeping on duty again!" Dan begged desperately. No _way_ in _hell_ did he want to be cleaning all the toilets in the base every day!

The soldier seemed to pause for a moment.

"Lady Villetta? As in Villetta Nu?"

"Y-Yes." Dan gulped out, "She's a tough disciplinarian and most people would rather cut an arm off rather than cross her."

"Ha. How ironic." The soldier snorted in amusement. Seeing Dan's look of incomprehension, the soldier evidently decided to explain himself.

"I'm here to deliver a confidential dispatch to Lady Villetta and her Commander. So you see, your luck _really_ sucks today."

Dan felt the blood seep from his face. He was in serious trouble. He had to do something.

" I-Is there nothing I can do to convince you to do otherwise? Please!" Dan begged again.

The soldier cocked his head slightly, seemingly in thought, before answering.

"Hmmm. Well, I suppose I _could_ neglect to tell Lady Villetta about this _if_ you delete any mention of my presence from the entry/exit logs. This-" the soldier gestured at the dispatch case he held in one hand, "-is top secret, slit-your-throat-before-reading material, so the less attention drawn to unknown personnel entering and leaving the base. Do you _understand_?" The soldier's voce was quiet and serious.

"R-right! Of course!" Dan replied, relieved that he would not be given the 'General Augustus Treatment' as it was known in Area 11, named after the General who managed to irk Prince Clovis to the point of demoting Augustus to a lowly sanitation tech in Hokkaido.

Dan opened the gate and waved the soldier through. He then did as he was asked and erased the video, audio and electronic records of the soldier ever being at, and passing through, the gate.

'_That was too close._' Dan thought as he wiped his forehead free from sweat, '_I thought I was actually going to get in trouble there for a second!_'

He was blissfully unaware of how his actions would affect the future.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Inside the Base Perimeter**

The soldier that just entered the base strode forward with confidence, nothing in his bearing suggesting that he didn't have every right to be there.

As he walked, he looked for directions for the Administration Section. Eventually spying a sign that pointed him towards the right way in, he moved in the direction indicated, his steps unhurried and even paced.

Entering the Administration Section, he came across his target almost at once. Villetta Nu was striding down the hall with a tired look in her eyes and a slight slump in her posture.

Deciding to put the question of why she looked exhausted to one side for the moment, the soldier walked up to her and saluted her.

"Lady Villetta Nu?" He asked her as she returned his salute.

She nodded and said, "Yes I am. What do you want?"

"I'm a courier, milady, and I have some documents to be delivered to you." The soldier replied, holding up the dispatch case.

Villetta massaged her temples slowly and stifled a small groan.

"_More_ paperwork for me?" she asked, her voice dripping distain for the idea.

"Above my pay grade to know that ma'am. I just deliver the things." The soldier replied stoically.

Villetta sighed and shook her head. That much was true. The dispatch cases used to transfer sensitive information are programmed to only be opened by the personal code of the intended recipient. If anyone other than Villetta had tried to open the case, the documents would be destroyed.

"Fine. Let's go to my office and get this over and done with." Villetta said with a decided lack of enthusiasm and walked off, the soldier in step behind her.

At length, they reached Villetta's office, a smallish room with little more than a desk, two chairs and a computer terminal crammed in. After closing the door, Villetta moved around the desk and sat in the chair behind the desk. She opened a drawer and began rummaging around inside it, searching for something. Her Courier Personal Identity Code number, presumably.

'_About time I cut to the chase._' the soldier thought as he removed his helmet to reveal the face of Lelouch Lamperouge. Looking at the distracted female soldier, Lelouch grinned and then said the words he had programmed the woman to respond to.

"By the command of Alan Spacer."

The effect was instantaneous. Villetta ceased rummaging in the drawer, sat up straight and looked him in the eyes, the red rings around her eyes showing the control his Geass command was exercising over her.

"Master." Villetta acknowledged him with a single word, just as he had commanded her to.

'_Good. Looks like the command worked as intended. Now lets get down to business…_' Lelouch thought as he recalled the list of questions he needed to ask his unknowing mole.

"Report." Lelouch commanded, "Tell me the highpoints of what you did after I took my leave yesterday."

"After you left me, Master, I made my way back to the Command G-1 on foot." Villetta stated in a monotone voice, "Sometime after I arrived, His Highness Prince Clovis was discovered dead in the command bridge. He was killed with a single shot to the head, made by a standard-issue Britannian pistol. The bridge was powered down during the estimated time of death, meaning the bridge cameras were inoperable and the culprit still remains unidentified."

'_So far, no surprises._' Lelouch thought as he motioned Villetta to continue her report.

"After my superior arrested General Bartley and the entire bridge crew on suspicion of aiding and abetting a regicide, he then sent a report to the Homeland detailing what we knew of the battle and the assassination. A few hours later, He received orders making him the interim-Viceroy until His Majesty selects the next permanent Viceroy."

Lelouch inwardly cursed at this turn of events. The Purebloods being put in charge meant the average Japanese civilian's life would become even more unbearable than normal (as hard as that was to imagine) and even Japanese Honorary Britannians would be victimised. Something had to be done.

Villetta continued with her recital of events.

"This afternoon, my superior took delivery of the paperwork that had to be filled out in order to become the interim-Viceroy. It is a large amount, required to be filled out in triplicate. I found the situation amusing, so my superior made me the interim Sub-Viceroy in order to, in his words, 'Share the misery.' That is a complete recitation of my activities since our last meeting." Villetta fell silent, awaiting Lelouch's next order or query.

"Who is your superior?" Lelouch asked. He had to get a general grasp of his opponent before he could craft a strategy. It wasn't actually _necessary_, but Lelouch preferred to leave nothing to chance.

"Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald." Villetta replied.

"What is his service record like?" Lelouch probed. Villetta accessed the file on her terminal and read it out to him.

"Lord Jeremiah is a career soldier, graduating from the Imperial Colchester Institute and distinguished himself in battle with the G.G.D.C.F. 5th Regiment "K" Powered Task Company, earning him a position as a member of the Royal Guard in Pendragon. He was assigned to the Aries Palace and was on duty when Her Majesty, Marianne vi Britannia, was assassinated. Afterwards, he joined the Pureblood Faction, despite having rebuffed several invitations to join them in the past. After the invasion and subsequent annexation of Japan as Area 11, he had this unit transferred here."

Lelouch frowned. That was an unusual resume. Why would an up-and-coming soldier suddenly join a group that he had refused several ties in the past and then transfer to a newly pacified Area? The only connection point was….

His mother, himself and Nunnally. That had to be it. Looking at Villetta intently, Lelouch voiced one of the questions that had boiled up from him assimilating the information given to him by his spy.

"Has Jeremiah ever talked to you about why he transferred to the Purebloods?"

"Yes, several times."

"What did he say?" Lelouch probed her for more information.

"He told me that all of the guards stationed at the Aries Palace were considered _persona non grata _by most nobles as a result of failing to prevent the death of one of the 108 Imperial Consorts, so he had to join the Purebloods in order to save his career." Was Villetta's reply.

Lelouch scowled. That sounds like the kind of thing the nobility would do -blame the common soldiers for something clearly beyond their control. The attack had happened at the precise time of day that there were very few guards around and the vi Britannia family was in a reasonably exposed area. There had been no way for the Royal Guard to respond to an attack that had come out of nowhere and disappeared just as suddenly as it had appeared.

"What has he said about the Consort who was murdered?" Lelouch asked, forcing his voice to come out unemotional and steady. He couldn't call Marianne vi Britannia his mother, as Villetta wouldn't know who he was talking about. It was still galling to speak so impersonally about his own mother.

"Lord Jeremiah bemoans her death greatly. He had considerable respect for her and considers her death on his watch his greatest failing."

Once again, Lelouch was forced to examine the fact that several people in the Imperial Court, barring Cornelia and Euphy, had liked and respected his mother rather than hating and reviling her.

Shaking his head, Lelouch continued asking his questions.

"Why did Jeremiah transfer his unit to Area 11?"

"He confided to me that he did so in order to search for Their Highnesses Prince Lelouch and Princess Nunnally." Villetta replied.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow at this.

"For their _bodies_, surely?"

"Lord Jeremiah is convinced that they are alive."

"Based on what?"

"Belief. According to Lord Jeremiah, Prince Lelouch was one of the most intelligent boys he had ever met. He had dominated every chess match he took part in, except against Second Prince Schneizel, and _he_ is a prodigy. Based on that, Lord Jeremiah hopes that His Highness managed to find a way for he and his sister to survive."

Lelouch mentally rocked back on his heels. Such a person had been searching for him for over seven years.

"W-What does he plan on doing once he finds them?" Lelouch managed to get out through his suddenly dry throat. The answer to this question was vital, as it would solidify the grand finale of Lelouch's plan for the debut of Zero.

"He intends to swear himself to Prince Lelouch as his Knight if His Highness will allow it. He will then aid him in the protection of Princess Nunnally, if she is still alive, and also help him find the identity of the one who murdered Lady Marianne." Villetta stated, bluntly.

Lelouch couldn't help himself; he gaped at Villetta in shock for a handful of minutes as he processed this latest revelation. Then, slowly, his mouth closed and curled up into a grin.

"You don't say….." he murmured as he began making alterations to his plans. Things had just become interesting.

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**With Jeremiah**

Jeremiah was wrestling with his paperwork once again. He had to wonder who had thought up some of the questions in this form. Precisely what the county of one's birth in the Britannian Homeland had to do with _governing an Area _was beyond him. Ditto for number of hours in a Knightmare cockpit and, the strangest one yet, length of time on average he took to shower in the mornings.

Mentally cursing bureaucrats, clerks and courtiers, Jeremiah put a freshly finished form to one side and was reaching for another one, when a sharp staccato of knocks drew his attention from the veritable mountain of paper.

"Enter!" he called out. He needed a small break anyway, so this was fairly good timing. He did wonder where Villetta had gotten to though….

The door was opened by a soldier wearing full uniform, including a helmet, which surprised Jeremiah slightly. Not only was it impolite to wear headgear indoors outside of a battle, most soldiers hated wearing their headgear unless it was absolutely necessary as it felt very claustrophobic inside one.

"Lord Jeremiah?" the soldier asked. Jeremiah smiled humourlessly at him.

"That's what it says on the door." He replied dryly. He noted the soldier didn't so much as flinch at the mild censure in his voice, which was another oddity. A lowly footsoldier such as the one in front of him should be stepping very carefully around any Knight, even more so when dealing with a Margrave.

The soldier held up a dispatch case for Jeremiah to view.

"I have documents for you, sir." The soldier said simply. This simple little sentence caused a wave of despair wash over Jeremiah.

"_More_ paperwork?!" Jeremiah demanded incredulously. He had been _assured_ that the mini-mountain currently occupying his desk was all the forms needed! Were the bureaucrats trying to play some kind of twisted _game_ with him? If they were, they would rue the day they _dared_ cross Jeremiah Gottwald, by God!

"Couldn't say, sir. I was told to deliver this to you, not what it contained." The soldier replied blandly, earning him a glare from the aquamarine haired noble.

"Grrr. Fine. Close the door and let's get this over with." Jeremiah grunted out moodily as he waved impatiently at the door.

As the soldier turned and closed the door, Jeremiah silently drew his pistol and pointed it at the back of the soldier. Once the door was closed, Jeremiah spoke in a low growl.

"Alright, whoever you are. Put your hands up and turn around, nice and slowly."

The 'soldier' did as he was asked, raising his hands up slowly, then turning on the spot to face the pistol-wielding man behind the desk. He then spoke, amusement lacing his voice.

"You really don't like paperwork, do you Jeremiah?"

The Margrave scowled at the insolence the man before him was displaying to him. He gestured at the full to overflowing desk before him with his free hand.

"Not when I have this much of it to fill out, although it is partially thanks to this ungodly amount of paper that I twigged to your ruse." Jeremiah told the man before him, his scowl morphing into a small smirk.

"Oh?" Said the man held at gunpoint, a curious lilt to his voice, "Do tell."

"Simply put, this paperwork hell that I am currently in is every single form required to be filled out for me to become the interim-Viceroy. I was assured of that several times by the bureaucratic _lapdog_ that brought the thrice-accursed things here. So you claiming to have _more_ documents for me despite that and considering all Pureblood paperwork is being handled by Sir Dennis and Sir Wayne, you were more than slightly suspicious." Jeremiah said, musingly. The man he was holding the gun on said nothing.

"But what really set alarm bells ringing was your blatant lack of fear or respect towards a Knight." Jeremiah continued talking, "Any soldier with a pair of brain cells to bash together would tread as if on egg shells around a Knight, even more so around a Margrave!"

Jeremiah paused, interested to see what his 'guest' would say or do.

"I see." the man said with a small shrug, "Looks like I need to work on my acting. I don't really do subservient and down-beaten that well."

Jeremiah snorted. "You truly are impudent, aren't you?"

"With reason."

"Oh? Pray tell, what _possible_ reason could you have for being arrogant enough to display enough impudence to disrespect a margrave of the Empire? I'm _all_ ears." Jeremiah asked sarcastically. The man merely shrugged again.

"All the explanation I need to give will be shown if I remove my helmet." The man told Jeremiah, who looked confused.

"Indeed? Then by all means, remove your helmet. Although I fail to see how seeing your face will change anything."

"All will be revealed in short order, Jeremiah." The man assured his 'host' as he slowly and deliberately unfastened the buckles securing the helmet to his head and then removed the helmet to reveal his entire face.

Jeremiah was stunned as a pair of stunning violet eyes regarded him, eyes that had belonged to only three people in the world. Midnight black hair framed his face and Jeremiah knew whose presence he was in.

Dropping his pistol from his nerveless fingers, Jeremiah cleared his suddenly dry throat before he spoke, his voice shaking and hoarse.

"Y-Your Highness? Prince…Lelouch?"

Lelouch looked down at Jeremiah, his body drawn up in a regal manner, no longer acting like a common soldier but exuding his natural commanding aura.

"Indeed, Jeremiah Gottwald. You and I have much to discuss." Lelouch spoke and his eyes narrowed as he regarded the Margrave.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Lelouch's Perspective**

Lelouch watched Jeremiah, taking in his poleaxed expression and throttled the desire to laugh at it. He needed to be PRINCE Lelouch right now, not Lelouch the schoolboy.

Focusing on the former member of his mothers Royal Guard behind the desk, Lelouch sat in the chair in front of the desk and regally crossed his legs. He would have to be very careful here. A single slip up would result in catastrophe, both for him and for his planned rebellion.

Be Cool.

Be Calm.

Be Collected.

Be in Control.

Lelouch decided that right now Jeremiah was in no state to broach the silence, since he had morphed from poleaxed to imitating a fish out of water, jaw flapping open and closed and eyes wide, so he must draw him out.

Clearing his throat, Lelouch spoke softly, forcing the margrave to clear his head and lean forward to be able to hear Lelouch's words.

"Seven years. For seven long years I have hidden in Japan, watching Britannia stomp down on the pride of its conquered subjects, the Britannians in the Settlement treating the native populous like wild beasts rather than humans and praying that I wouldn't be discovered."

Lelouch paused and watched Jeremiah again. As he had spoken, he had watched Jeremiah flinch at the barely discernable anger in his voice.

"Imagine my surprise yesterday," Lelouch continued, "When I accidentally fell into a terrorist's truck and eventually ended up in Shinjuku, after being chased by VTOL's and Knightmares, only to find the 8th Mobile Battalion, otherwise known as the Purebloods, tearing the place apart and slaughtering the inhabitants. My surprise had grown _immensely_ when I was almost killed by Clovis' Royal Guard, then saved by the contents of the '_Poison Gas Container_' mere minutes before I discovered that. Twice in a single day I was almost killed, and on both occasions it was at the hands of Britannians rather than the Numbers that are sneered upon by my countrymen. Ironic, wouldn't you agree?"

A pale Jeremiah jerkily nodded, his eyes filled with questions. Lelouch decided to answer one that was probably at the top of the nobleman's list.

"You are curious as to why I say 'poison gas' sarcastically, aren't you? Well, the actual content of the capsule was, in matter of fact, a human girl." Lelouch told the man, mentally smirking at Jeremiah's bulging incredulous eyes.

"Yes, Jeremiah, you were lied to about what you were chasing. Not only was it not poison gas, oh no it gets worse than that, the girl in question was a subject of human experimentation, conducted on the orders of both Clovis and my _father_!" Lelouch spat the word _father_ out like a curse.

Jeremiah's face had returned to its earlier poleaxed expression at this latest revelation. Lelouch had an impassive expression on his own face that revealed nothing. He decided that this time Jeremiah would have to re-start the conversation.

After a couple of minutes, Jeremiah shook himself and seemed to recover himself somewhat. Lelouch gave him credit for being able to roll with the punches, metaphorically speaking. Jeremiah spoke up then, still sounding somewhat hoarse.

"Your Highness, I am glad to see you. I-I have been searching for you ever since I arrived in…Japan…six and a half years ago," The man said _Japan_ as if it were a foreign concept, which Lelouch had to admit, it was for a member of the Britannian Nobility, "I would have tried to get myself assigned as a bodyguard to yourself and Princess Nunnally when you were sent here, but after Lady Marianne died, I couldn't ask to be given so much as a pencil. I was on guard the day your mother was assassinated, and I am ashamed that I could do nothing to prevent her death."

The man was still guilty, after over seven years, about something he had had absolutely no control over. Lelouch was slightly taken aback by this fact, in addition to the deadness in Jeremiah's eyes, although his face revealed nothing as Jeremiah continued to speak.

"I had wondered if I was on a fool's errand all these years, searching for someone that the occupation forces couldn't find in three months, but I still hoped….and here you are, alive and well. Yesterday's close call non-withstanding." Jeremiah spoke as if he were confessing his sins to a priest.

"I did wonder about the gas. If it was so virulent, why only deploy a single battalion to recapture it? And then, why the most _fanatical_ pro-Britannian faction? It makes sense now - Prince Clovis was terrified of being disinherited over this, wasn't he?" Jeremiah mused aloud as he put the pieces together, "But something puzzles me, Your Highness -how did you escape from the Royal Guard?"

Lelouch gave Jeremiah a slow, evil looking smirk that sent chills up the Margrave's spine.

"An excellent question. It ties in with why Clovis was experimenting on the girl. She is immortal." Lelouch said blandly. Jeremiah blinked in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, did you say the girl is _immortal_, your Highness?" Jeremiah asked disbelievingly.

"She was shot in the centre of the forehead when she took a bullet for me and was fully healed just under forty minutes later, Jeremiah. It's _not_ something I would mistake or confuse." Lelouch said with a hint of steel in his voice. Jeremiah unconsciously straightened in response to the unspoken but clear reprimand in Lelouch's voice.

"My apologies for questioning you, but you must admit it is a little hard to believe, Your Highness." Jeremiah replied.

"No, it's perfectly understandable. I had a hard time believing it myself at the time, but seeing is believing as they say." Lelouch shook his head and continued, "Anyway, after she was shot, she grabbed my hand and made a contract with me -power in exchange for her 'one true wish' being granted. Using the power I obtained, I ordered the Royal Guard to die. They died."

Seeing a look of disbelief cross Jeremiah's face, Lelouch willed his Geass to appear in his eye. Judging from the small gasp Jeremiah let out, he had succeeded.

Deactivating his Geass, Lelouch carried on, "The symbol you saw in my left eye is the mark of my power, the power called Geass. It manifests differently from person to person but in my case, it manifested as the Power of Absolute Obedience. I can command any_one_ to do any_thing_. There are limits I'm sure, but I have only established a small handful so far."

Jeremiah looked thunderstruck. "So, when you told the Royal Guard to 'die'…" he said, putting the pieces together.

Lelouch nodded. "That's right. I told them to die, so they committed mass suicide. I dislike the fact that I did it, but it was necessary in order for me to return to Nunnally safely."

"Lady Nunnally? She is alive?" Jeremiah sounded relieved that the other subject of his self-imposed mission was also alive.

"Alive, yes. Blind and crippled, but still alive and happy." Lelouch responded absently. "Anyway, a few minutes later, a Pureblood Knightmare charges into the warehouse I was in -a warehouse filled with massacre Japanese civilians and dead Royal Guardsmen- and who should it be but your second in command, Villetta Nu."

"Villetta?" Jeremiah looked momentarily taken aback.

"Yes. I lured her outside of her Knightmare and used my Geass on her." Lelouch ignored the sudden intake of breath form Jeremiah at this point, "I questioned her about her mission objectives then made her give me the codes and key to her Sutherland. I then embedded a conditional activation command in her that makes her an unwitting mole in the military."

Jeremiah looked appalled. "My Lord!"

"I needed to keep abreast with the military, Jeremiah. The chance for future intelligence on military manoeuvres and deployments was far too tempting to pass up." Lelouch told the now frowning Jeremiah in a calm and concise fashion.

Jeremiah sighed and massaged his temples. "I….am honestly torn, My Lord. On one hand, I applaud your decisiveness and quick thinking, but on the other, I am angry and distressed that my subordinate is little more than a puppet now."

"She isn't a puppet. When I embedded the original command, I also made sure to implant a deactivation code as well as an activation code." Lelouch riposted.

"…..Can you undo the command _completely_, my Lord?" Jeremiah asked him.

Lelouch hesitated. "I can't undo it, per se, but I can bypass it by ordering her not to respond to the activation command. I will ask you to hear the rest of what I have to say first before you come to any decisions."

Jeremiah nodded slowly in reluctant agreement. Seeing this, Lelouch continued.

"By this time, the encirclement of Shinjuku was nigh impenetrable, so I made the only choice I could make; I chose to aid the terrorists. No, don't give me that look. It was the only choice left that _didn't_ involve Clovis shipping me to the Homeland with Nunnally in tow. I do have to apologise for ruining your Knightmare though." Lelouch gave Jeremiah a small apologetic smile as he said that last part.

"You were the Sutherland that shot at me!" Jeremiah realised with a flash of insight with Lelouch's last words.

Lelouch shrugged apologetically. "I needed the terrorist's help, and that red Glasgow pilot was very skilled. She impressed me very much."

"She? The pilot was a female?" Jeremiah asked, startled.

"Yes. I happen to know precisely who she is. At the moment, it is irrelevant." Lelouch's voice was very firm and, very wisely, Jeremiah did not protest as Lelouch continued.

"After I gave them a train-load of Sutherlands, I led them to victory over Clovis' forces. Not that it was difficult. Clovis never did plan more than two moves ahead when we played chess and this shallowness of strategy was evident in his tactics yesterday. Once I defeated the main forces, Clovis became desperate and deployed an experimental Knightmare frame. Ironically enough, it was supposed to be yours."

Jeremiah thought for a moment before remembering the radio calls trying to make him return to base to pilot a new Knightmare.

"You mean those idiots at Camelot _actually_ made a viable Frame this time?" Jeremiah asked with a raised eyebrow. The last Knightmare designed by Camelot, the Bedivere, had been so high-spec that no one had even been able to make it move. That is why he had ignored the requests to return - no point wasting time on a Knightmare that doesn't work.

"They did. It was most impressive. It possessed some sort of energy shielding system that was able to withstand five simultaneous Chaos Mine strikes. It also possessed considerable strength, speed and agility." Lelouch told Jeremiah distantly as he thought back to the sheer speed the white Knightmare had shown.

"How did you defeat it, My Lord?" Jeremiah asked, intrigued. Lelouch smiled.

"I dropped half of the old Tokyo City Hall on the damn thing."

Jeremiah's eyes bugged out at this revelation. _That_ explains the reports of a minor earthquake yesterday!

"Wasn't that somewhat…_extreme_, my Lord?" Jeremiah opined.

Lelouch shook his head. "Believe me; no conventional ambush would succeed against that Knightmare. Had I not taken the precautions I had, it would have torn through the terrorist Sutherlands like a hot knife through butter."

Jeremiah looked somewhat dubious, but assumed it was another 'you had to _be_ there to believe it' scenario and moved on.

"My Lord, this is incredible! You overwhelmed an entire battalion with less than thirty Knightmares manned by barely trained pilots!" Jeremiah said, a slight amount of awe in his voice. Lelouch snorted.

"As I said, Clovis was a poor tactician and a worse strategist. Add into the mix the fact that I was using their own IFF beacons against them, I would be willing to say that any half decent military trainee could have crushed Clovis yesterday." Lelouch said with a dismissive wave of one hand before he continued to speak.

"After dealing with the white Knightmare, I made my way to the Command G-1 and used my Geass to interrogate Clovis, once I got rid of his bridge crew."

"My Lord….it can't be….did you…?" Jeremiah spoke slowly, hesitating to voice the suspicion that had just been born in his mind.

Lelouch nodded his head. "Yes, Jeremiah. I am the one who ordered the death of my brother Clovis, although he died at the hands of the one he experimented on. A just and ironic fate for him, I would say." Lelouch spoke in a detached, emotionless voice that hid from the margrave the inner turmoil that still swirled within him at the decision he had made.

Jeremiah stared at Lelouch with wide eyes. "You ordered his death? You didn't do the deed yourself?"

Lelouch shook his head. "No. The just thing to do was to let the one most wronged by his actions end him, so that is the path I followed. I did stop the girl from torturing Clovis, though. In victory, one must be gracious."

Jeremiah stilled as he heard Lady Marianne's truism spoken by her eldest child. He let out a sigh as he mentally conceded that Prince Lelouch had a point. Prince Clovis had deserved to die for the actions he had taken, both in regards to the events in Shinjuku and with regard to the girl.

The margrave rubbed his eyes tiredly. All these revelations were even more mind-numbing than the cursed paperwork had been!

"So then, My Lord. There are only two questions that needs to be asked now, I suppose: Why approach and reveal all this to me and what your objective is?" Jeremiah spoke wearily, his eyes concealed behind his hand.

Lelouch took a deep breath. This was it.

"I will answer your questions in reverse order. I have two objectives: First, I plan on finding and killing the person or cabal responsible for orchestrating the death of my mother and the crippling of my sister, regardless of who they are or what rank they hold. Even if my _father_ is responsible." Lelouch spoke calmly, his voice even and unhurried.

Jeremiah's eyes widened at this declaration, but Lelouch continued speaking as if he had just mentioned he was going shopping in the near future.

"My second objective is more complicated than it sounds: the obliteration of my _father's_ Britannia." Lelouch's voice became hard, determination emanating from his body in almost visible waves.

Jeremiah's jaw dropped. "_Your Highness?!_"

Lelouch winced at the almost shrill tone Jeremiah's voice. "Easy there. I said it was more complicated than it sounds. What I mean is that I wish to destroy the arrogant, holier-than-thou, corrupt and foul existence that is the current Britannia and replace it with something new."

Jeremiah gaped at Lelouch, which prompted him to continue.

"Oh, I'm certain that Britannia will eventually destroy itself by overextending it's own reach - someday. Nothing lasts forever, which is especially true of empires and countries. Hell, my father's policy of Social Darwinism practically _guarantees_ the destruction of Britannia at some future date. At which point, there will be a power vacuum in the world and the remaining major powers will fight over the corpse of what was once Britannia in order to gain any slight advantage they can get." Lelouch predicted with a frown.

The Margrave behind the desk had gone pale at the description of Britannia's eventual fate.

"There are a handful of solutions, most of which are either impractical or undoable. As the Imperial family and the Nobility are the ones that set policies for the Empire, change from within is impossible on both the political and social fronts. Exerting political pressure from _without_ Britannia is equally impossible, due to the current disparity in military forces between Britannia and the rest of the world. The only remaining possibility is to defeat Britannia militarily and reform it in the aftermath." Lelouch had to hide a small grin at the nonplussed expression on Jeremiah's face.

"My Lord…you just said that exerting pressure from other countries was impossible due to Britannia's military strength being as strong as it is, only to turn around and say that defeating Britannia militarily is the option remaining!" Jeremiah stated, confusion lacing through every word he spoke.

Lelouch grinned at the confused man. "Ah, but military might and the _application_ of it are two different things. True, Britannia's military might -meaning it's overall forces in total- are significant, however, due to the numerous conquests it has made, a not insignificant portion of forces are used to keep the native populations in line. Additionally, the war against the Euro Universe has started to pick up pace, absorbing yet more men and resources. The sheer size of the E.U. will prevent it's defeat in any less time than three years, perhaps as many as five, barring any sudden technological miracles by either side that would alter the power balance."

Jeremiah nodded, agreeing with Lelouch's assessment.

"The Chinese Federation is of similar size to the E.U., but has far more organised and well trained forces. Rather than a military drawn from numerous countries speaking different languages and military traditions, the Federation is one big super state, with one military and, similar to Britannia; do not allow their own conquered vassals to rise high in the military or government. The High Eunuchs, who run the Federation 'in the name of the Empress', are just as corrupt and self centred as any Britannian Noble and are likely to sell out the Federation in exchange for status for themselves in Britannia." Lelouch continued his lecture, aware of Jeremiah's appraising eyes on him.

Lelouch uncrossed and then re-crossed his legs before continuing.

"These two entities are the only foreign powers with the capacity to resist Britannia. They rival Britannia in both size and population and have the resources to conduct research in Knightmare development. All other countries are of little significance in the grand scheme of things." Lelouch finished, looking at Jeremiah evenly.

"So you intend to aid one of these two entities then?" Jeremiah asked for clarification.

Lelouch snorted. "Hardly. It is better to be a king in your own court than a noble in someone else's. I did say foreign powers, didn't I? There is another entity that can and is resisting Britannia: Japan."

Jeremiah frowned. "Japan lost the Second Pacific War." he pointed out.

"True. It surrendered after a month - with its industries and infrastructure mostly intact. In addition over 70% of the surviving members of the Japanese Imperial Army formed the Japanese Liberation Front and still actively resist to this day." Lelouch countered.

'_Even though 'resisting' has basically amounted to propaganda broadcasts and encouraging passive resistance._' He mentally added.

"The Six Houses of Kyoto are the keystone of resistance in Japan. They fund all of the disparate resistance groups and conduct Knightmare research and development. I plan on supplanting the JLF with my own group and retaking Japan, with the support of the Six Houses." Lelouch told Jeremiah.

"I….see." Jeremiah said slowly, processing the outline of Lelouch's plan he had been given. It was audacious, daring and nigh impossible. Were it anyone else telling him this plan, he would also call it foolish, reckless and utterly hopeless.

Then again, defeating an entire battalion of Knightmares piloted by highly trained Knights with a mere twenty or so Knightmares piloted by rank amateurs was supposed to be impossible and _that_ had happened the previous day.

"That still begs the question of why you came to me, My Lord." Jeremiah pointed out, once the Margrave had processed all he had been told thus far.

Lelouch's face instantly became serious. "Up until a half hour ago, I had no idea who you were or that you had been in my mother's Guard. Then Villetta told me all she knew of you."

Jeremiah couldn't read the look on Lelouch's face, but got the impression from his words that his Prince was impressed with him.

"You have remained steadfastly loyal to my bloodline for seven years, joining a group whose ideology clashes with my mothers' ideology in order to come here and find my sister and me, in order to protect us." Lelouch paused as he sent an approving look towards Jeremiah, "Such determination and unwavering loyalty is uncommon. I had to meet you in order to find out what you were like as a person."

Jeremiah cleared his suddenly dry throat. "And….what is your opinion?"

Lelouch made eye contact with Jeremiah. "Honestly, you surprised me. I was under the impression that the entire Imperial Court had despised my mother, but recently I have been receiving information that some very high-ranking people had admired my mother before her death. Your guilt, misplaced as it is, merely confirmed all of the information I have gathered."

The exiled prince tapped his jaw slowly in thought before continuing.

"You are practical enough to compromise your own opinions in order to survive to fight another day, yet loyal enough to those self-same opinions to maintain them privately. You inspire fierce loyalty in your subordinates and are loyal to them in return. And finally -" Lelouch smiled briefly, "-you stalled what could have been a very promising and illustrious career in a backwater area, just for the sake of finding and protecting Nunnally and myself. _That_ convinced me that you are a person that can be trusted."

Unconsciously, Jeremiah straightened in his chair at Lelouch's praise. Lelouch regarded the margrave steadily.

"Jeremiah Gottwald, is your loyalty still firm? Are you still willing to entrust your loyalty to me, despite what you now know I have done?"

Jeremiah's head jerked up in surprise and shock at Lelouch's questions.

"My Lord?!" he managed to get out.

"What I plan to do will not be easy to accomplish by any means and thus, I need every advantage I can get. The service of a trustworthy Knight will be a boon to my chances of success. That being said, I will not force you to swear to me, and I will merely ask that you not inform others that Nunnally and myself exist." Lelouch told him frankly.

"You…would not use your…ability…on me?" Jeremiah asked, for clarification.

Lelouch shook his head to indicated the negative.

"No. Either I trust you enough to ask you to be my Knight, in which case should you, refuse I trust you to accede to my wishes, or I don't trust you, in which case I wouldn't have bothered with this whole conversation and merely used my power on you in the first place." Lelouch replied with a small shrug.

"One…one final question, My Lord." Jeremiah said softly, his body rigid with tension, "Are you doing this for Lady Nunnally? Or for yourself?"

Lelouch glared at Jeremiah, his eyes becoming colder than ice. "Everything I do is for Nunnally's sake and my mother's memory. _Everything_."

A tense silence filled the room as the exiled son of a murdered mother met the eyes of a soldier and Aristocrat of the regime that claimed the life of that woman. The silence was broken by Jeremiah standing and moving around the desk to kneel before Lelouch.

A sense of triumph filled Lelouch as he began the age old ritual used by the Britannian Imperial Family to swear a Knight as a Prince or Princess' Personal Knight.

"Jeremiah Gottwald, on this day, dost thou abandon yourself to become a sword and shield for the greater good?" Lelouch noticed that Jeremiah's eyes were glistening with unshed tears. Tears of joy, he realised.

"Yes, Your Highness!" Jeremiah whispered.

"Courage and Honour, Duty and Sacrifice, these are the hallmarks of a Knight. Dost thou swear to hold these values foremost in thin heart and mind?" Lelouch continued.

"Yes, Your Highness!"

"Then I, Lelouch vi Britannia, hereby recognise you as my Knight. May you remain ever victorious." Lelouch concluded the ritual with a smile.

Jeremiah stood and saluted Lelouch, the tears falling free from his eyes as he finally, at long last, _truly_ served a member of the vi Britannia bloodline.

"Thank you Your Highness. I swear you shall not regret this." Jeremiah spoke with a husky undertone as he wiped the tears from his face.

Lelouch's smile grew for a second. "I know I won't, Jeremiah. Now, about Villetta…"

"Yes my Lord, I actually had an idea about that. Can you…" Jeremiah put his head together with his Prince and began planning.

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**Next Chapter: The Meeting at Tokyo Tower**

**Authors Note: And that's it. Orange-kun is getting drawn in and Lelouch has a powerful new ally.**

**I couldn't find any oaths in canon that suited my needs, so I adapted the Oath of Knighthood from R1, episode 18 to suit my needs.**

**See you November the 30****th****.**


	10. Interlude: Milly and Nina

**Disclaimer: Code Geass is not mine. It belongs to the author and anyone he sold the rights to, which does not include me.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Interlude: Milly and Nina**

**Student Council Office, Ashford Academy, 03.00pm**

A fly on the wall of the student council office would wonder why no work was being done by the only two occupants of the room. It would also question why the two occupants, both female, were cuddling together as they were.

Flies are very stupid.

**Ten Minutes previously….**

"I don't like it." Nina Einstein said in an unusually firm tone coming from her.

Milly sighed. "What don't you like, Nina?" Even though she asked, she had a pretty good idea what the green haired girl was referring to.

"The way Lelouch smiled at you this morning." Nina replied, oblivious to Milly rolling her eyes. "He was being too close to you and I _don't_ like it."

Most people who knew Nina would be surprised to hear her speak like this. She wasn't showing her usual stuttering and barely audible manner of speech, instead she spoke with self-assurance and confidence in who she was.

This was a side only those closest to her knew about, people she was comfortable showing her other side to.

Her assertive side.

"Nina, I have known Lelouch since he was five years old." Milly told the now pouting girl, "We are as close as friends can get and we constantly tease each other, although Lelouch usually isn't comfortable teasing people in public like he did with me this morning." Milly wondered what had made her childhood friend break from his 'Ice Prince' persona this morning.

'_Then again, coming within a hair of being killed and witnessing a massacre -for a second time- would make most people reassess their priorities._' Milly conceded mentally.

Aloud, she continued. "Anyway, the point is, Lelouch sees me as a friend, not a potential girlfriend. Besides-" Milly grinned slightly lecherously at Nina, "-you're _**my**_ girlfriend Nina. So I'm afraid that potential suitors will have to hold in line."

With those words, Milly swept the smaller girl into a hug, making Nina squeak in surprise before she returned the hug.

Milly mentally sighed to herself. She had managed to deflect Nina this time, but she didn't know how long she could hide her feelings for Lelouch from her.

She had met Lelouch in Pendragon when she was five. She had been taken to a ball by her grandfather on one of their infrequent court appearances. It had been the first ball in which Milly had been a guest rather than a host, so she was rather nervous.

When her grandfather had greeted the beautiful black haired woman with violet eyes, she had been in awe. '_This is Marianne the Flash! Omigod!_' had been running through her head as she had somehow managed a curtsey to the strongest woman in the Empire.

Then she had been introduced to Lelouch.

At the time, Milly hadn't thought it possible that a boy could look prettier than a girl. When she had met Lelouch, that preconception had been thrown out the window. Lelouch looked both as pretty as a female, and yet, as handsome as any man. Just looking at him had made her blush.

She had monopolised him during the entire ball and had gotten to know him as they danced. She had rapidly developed as childish crush on him by the end of the ball.

As the years had gone on, and Lelouch and Milly had kept in contact, the childish crush evolved to a preteen crush. Her grandfather had even thought of proposing an engagement between Lelouch and Milly because of how much she had liked him and Lady Marianne had promised to keep her in mind!

Then, everything had fallen apart. Lady Marianne had been murdered, Nunnally had been crippled, Lelouch and his sister had been exiled to Japan and the Ashford family had fallen from grace. She had cried for a week when she had found out about Lelouch and Nunnally's fate.

Six months later, she had been practically hysterical when the 'glorious conquest of the barbarian nation Japan' had been announced. She had been unable to believe that the Emperor had ordered the invasion. He had sacrificed two of his own children for political gain.

After Japan had fallen a month later, the Ashford Family had moved en-masse to Area 11. They had already had holdings in the country and a particularly skilled negotiator had managed to acquire the Ashford family the rights to build the Britannian Tokyo Settlement.

She had been astonished when Lelouch and Nunnally had shown up at the Ashford mansion's gate, dirty, slightly ragged but alive. She had taken some time to recover from the shock.

It had been she who persuaded her grandfather (Not that he had needed much in the way of persuasion, but better safe than sorry) to allow Lelouch and Nunnally to stay with them and to attend Ashford Academy once it was up and running. Milly acknowledged that quite a bit of the reason for doing that had been her crush on the exiled prince, but there had been another part: to spit in the eye of the Emperor, albeit unknown to the man himself.

Milly's musings were interrupted as a hand slipped under her skirt. Milly stifled a squeak and looked down to see Nina's eyes silently asking for permission.

"Oh no you don't, Nina. I lead today, remember?" Milly told her firmly, making the girl in her arms pout cutely which, in turn, made Milly's heart skip a beat.

She had long since admitted that, as far as boys went, Lelouch fit the bill exactly, so much so that Rivalz hadn't a hope in hell of getting a date with her. However, Milly had been startled to discover that she was _equally_ open to the advances of females at the age of fourteen, when she had been seduced by a maid (Not her personal maid at the time, Sayoko, but a house maid) when she had been alone in the mansion.

Nina had caught her eye almost immediately when she entered Ashford's High School Division last year. It had taken time, effort and not a bit of romancing on Milly's part to get the shy girl to open up to her, accept her advances and then bed her in that order. They had been secretly dating for almost eight months now, although the knowing look on Lelouch's face that morning told her that the secret wasn't one anymore.

Tilting Nina's head up, Milly stole a quick kiss from her before placing her mouth near Nina's ear.

"Hmmm…Seducing me in the Student Council Office, Nina? How forward of you." She breathed, making Nina shudder.

"But…it's been so _long_ since we've been together!" Nina complained weakly, "Lelouch is out, Nunnally and Shirley are doing their homework at the Clubhouse, Sayoko's out shopping or something and Rivalz is getting replacement parts for his bike from that specialist store on the other side of the settlement! It's the _perfect_ moment and you weren't doing anything, so I….."

Milly cut her off with another kiss.

"Sorry Nina, I was wool-gathering." Milly said apologetically when she broke the kiss, "Now then, my dear, how shall I _enjoy_ you today?"

The last part was sad with a lecherous grin, causing Nina to practically glow red. She was more confident with Milly, but at her core she was a very shy girl and thus, vulnerable to Milly and her teasing.

*****Insert Lemon Here! Look on Archive of Our Own for the Lemon that used to be here!*****

**3 Hours later**

Milly was sitting on a chair in the Student Council Office, flashing through paperwork like a pro. She glanced to the floor where a thoroughly exhausted Nina lay, a blanket protecting her modesty.

Milly smiled at the content expression on Nina's sleeping face. She was a really easy person to go out with. Give her a bit of attention every now and then and she was as happy as a cat with creamed milk.

Milly's face turned into a frown. She knew, deep down, that while she _was_ very fond of Nina, she liked Lelouch more. She wasn't being fair to Nina and she knew it.

Shaking her head, Milly returned to doing the paperwork the two of them had been supposed to be doing for the last three hours. She was unaware that the last three hours had been viewed by a yellow-eyed, green haired woman via a secret camera Lelouch had had installed in the council room to catch all of Milly's mad plans as she made them.

**With C.C.**

"Oh my." C.C. said, rather impressed. The blonde haired woman had utterly and completely dominated the green haired girl with glasses unrelentingly for the past three hours and had only gotten dressed again less than ten minutes ago to rapidly dispose of a modest-sized pile of paperwork.

The immortal woman had been bored after Lelouch had left and had stumbled across this TV labelled 'Milly Madness Detection System', so she had switched it on just in time to see the two girls getting hot and heavy.

C.C. had been unable to wrench her eyes from the screen for all of the last three hours. She had been forced to ease the heat that had gathered in her womanhood more than once during that time and she was still hot and bothered.

A lecherous grin spread across the immortal's face.

"Lelouch, you are not getting any sleep any time soon once you get back here." C.C. remarked aloud as she decided to attempt satiate her rising arousal yet again.

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**Authors Note: Yo guys and gals. My update is five days early! Yay!**

**Unfortunately, this is for a reason.**

**I am going to be very busy in December with X-Mas shopping, travelling to my family and other pesky details, so I will not be updating over the entirety of December.**

**On the flipside, I will be writing (on paper) quite a bit, so I will be able to have a few chapters written and ready after New Years Day.**

**Regarding New Years Day, remember my poll? That's when it closes and the story with the highest votes gets written after The Prepared Rebellion. So, if you haven't voted yet, VOTE! And please, you have three vote choices. Please use all of them.**

**See you on January the 5****th****! Merry X-Mas and A Happy New Year when it comes!**


	11. The Meeting at Tokyo Tower

**Author's Note: I have to give my apologies to all those who read my story for the lateness of this chapter. I had written it out before Christmas and I happily went to visit relatives over the holiday period. When I returned, I attempted to update my story on the third, as I said I would, only to discover that I had no internet access.**

**When I attempted it the next day, I was irritated to discover that my files had been corrupted, causing me to need to write this entire chapter out from scratch. I have taken precautions against this happening again (external hard drives are so useful) so I will be uploading the next update on schedule.**

**You've been patient enough, so, without further ado, ON WITH THE FIC!**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass. If I did, I wouldn't be writing on a Fanfic site, would I?**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 8: The Meeting at Tokyo Tower**

**Kallen's Room, The Stadtfelt Estate, 8:57pm**

Lying on her bed, clad only in panties and a light top, Kallen was impatiently awaiting nine o'clock. She had barely been able to hold herself back from opening the package left to her by K-1 until she had gotten back to the estate.

As soon as she had entered her room and locked the door, she had ripped the package open, to discover two things contained within: a slim mobile phone, coloured red and black, and a discreet headset in the same colours that was obviously for the phone.

She had deduced fairly quickly that K-1 would be calling her on it at nine, so she made sure that she was alone in her room at that time. Not that she had much to worry about. Her stepmother was out at another party and would doubtless be sleeping with a man she had met at the aforementioned party.

Kallen's lip curled in contempt. She couldn't stand the woman and wished that she could get rid of her somehow.

Aside from her stepmother, the Mansion was quiet tonight; most of the servants had been given the night off. The only one who hadn't was her birth-mother.

The look of contempt on Kallen's face deepened. Her mother, Yūko Kōzuki, had fallen lower than she could stand, in Kallen's opinion. She had sold her pride and became a maid at the mansion of her Britannian lover, the Earl of Stadtfelt, and endured countless hours of abuse from Kallen's stepmother and the other maids, all of whom were pure Britannians.

Kallen shook her head at her mother's stupidity (as she saw it) and wondered why the woman put up with it all: abuse from her mistress, abuse from her co-workers and, to top it all off, being ignored by her own daughter.

Kallen quashed a sudden surge of guilt ruthlessly. '_She deserves it for losing all her pride as a Japanese citizen!_' Kallen reasoned to herself, not entirely successfully. All her current thoughts froze and dissipated when the phone held idly in her hand began to buzz. The caller display, rather than reading 'K-1', instead merely displayed a single number -'0'.

'_Huh? Zero? What the….?_' Kallen thought in mild surprise before her conscious mind kicked in and reminded her she had to answer it.

Quickly checking to ensure her mother wasn't around, Kallen sat up and answered the phone with a cautious "Hello?"

"_Hello, Q-1._" The instantly recognisable voice of K-1 answered her at once, "_I trust you are alone?_"

"Of course." Kallen replied, "I noticed that the caller ID came up as 'Zero'. Is that your actual code-name or another red herring?"

"_It's my new code-name. 'K-1' will be my battlefield designation from now on._" The newly rechristened Zero replied, sounding somewhat amused.

"By the way, I haven't heard of anything that significant that happened in Shinjuku, aside from the Purebloods being given a spanking." Kallen remarked with a small smirk.

"_My sources tell me that the Britannians are scrambling to keep it under wraps until they have a planned response ready._" Zero replied, seemingly unconcerned by Kallen's questions. "_I severely doubt that they will be able to keep it a secret for much longer than another day, so please be patient and you will see a little of my work._"

"Alright." Kallen replied, somewhat sceptically.

"_Now, on to business, shall we?_" Zero said seriously.

"That's fine with me." Kallen replied. Finally, she could get some answers. "Who are you? Why did you help us in Shinjuku?"

"_I'm afraid I will have to decline to answer the first question, Q-1._" Zero replied seriously, "_After all, you wouldn't want me to go around telling people about your alter ego to all and sundry, correct?_"

Kallen scowled. "That's another thing, how did you know about that?"

A laugh came back across the phone. "_It actually wasn't as hard as you might think. There aren't that many blue-eyed redheaded girls in the country, especially in either the Ghettos or the Settlement. Using my sources in both, I eventually came across your dual-identities and made the connection._" After pausing to allow Kallen to absorb and digest just how easily her cover had been blown, Zero continued.

"_Tell me Kallen, how it felt…to _win_?_" he asked. Kallen blinked. What was this guy getting at? She took the question at face value, however.

"I…That is, it was….satisfying." Kallen replied softly. "We -the Japanese that is- haven't won a battle against Britannia since Itsukushima. I never thought it would be possible and yet, yesterday…" She trailed off.

"_You handed a Prince of the Realm a humiliating defeat._" Zero finished for her, "_Not to mention preventing the massacre of hundreds of innocent civilians._"

"It was our fault that happened in the first place." Kallen replied heatedly, "If we had planned it better-"

"_If', Kallen, is unimportant. Hindsight is always 20/20." _Zero told her flatly, "_Recognise your mistakes, learn from them and move on. Ensure that the next time, you don't make the same mistakes. In this way, you give the deaths caused by your own errors meaning and reason._"

Kallen bit back a snarling retort with considerable effort. As sanctimonious as it sounded, Zero had a point. Exhaling loudly, Kallen replied, "Fine. I'll try."

"_Good._" Zero sounded approving. "_To answer your second question from earlier, I dislike one-sided slaughters and decided to intervene when I found out about it. Besides, I was trapped in Shinjuku myself, so the quickest was to affect my release was to help you terrorists._"

"We aren't terrorists!" Kallen snarled. She could hear a sigh down the phone line.

"_You stole _poison gas _from Britannia. Regardless of your intentions, that was terrorism._" Zero replied a touch coolly. Kallen was about to snarl back, but Zero spoke over her.

"_To get back to the purpose of this call, I wish to speak to your leader. Ohgi, isn't it?_" Kallen's breath caught in her throat. He knew about Ohgi? How?

"How do you know who Ohgi is?!" Kallen hissed into the phone, the hand holding the phone tightening until the plastic creaked with strain. Kallen exercised control over her emotions and forced her hand to loosen its grip slightly.

"_Once I knew who you were and that you had lost a brother, it was fairly easy to consult the old records to discover who your brother was and who his associates were._" Zero explained, "_Anyway, as I said, I wish to meet with him. Can you make the arrangements?_"

Kallen thought it through. "He won't meet with you alone." She told him, "Nor will he be able to meet with you inside the settlement proper."

"_I expected as much. Two days from now, Sixteen-hundred, Old Tokyo Tower's Observation Platform. You are to come as well. He can bring at most five others. Bring this phone when you do._" Zero rapped out before he hung up.

Kallen tried to call the number in the directory, but got a 'disconnected line' message.

'_Damn._' Kallen thought as she glared at the phone. '_Well, it can't be helped._' She sighed as she laid herself down on the bed again. She thought of what the reactions of her Resistance Cell were going to be.

'_Ohgi will be apprehensive, Yoshida will be cautious, Sugiyama will be against it, Inoue will follow Ohgi's lead, ditto for Yoshitaka, and as for Tamaki…..he'll go against the majority just to make a statement. Idiot._' Kallen listed the main members of her Cell in her mind and sighed. She considered everything. They had to meet with this guy. He knew too much about them and had to be either contained or killed, their lives depended on it.

Sighing again, Kallen reached over and picked up her own mobile phone, picked it up and started to dial Ohgi's number. She anticipated a long, exasperatingly _irritating_, phone call.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Lelouch's room, Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy**

Lelouch looked at the phone in his hand and sighed. Kallen was quite right: her group weren't terrorists. He had acted like they were because he had to illustrate how they had been slipping down a slope that would have eventually culminated in them doing some horrific act of some sort.

He didn't doubt that, had they not lost the capsule, the Resistance Cell's initial intention would have been to follow the plan that Naoto Kōzuki had been responsible for creating, but had it actually been poison gas he suspected that this Shinichiro Tamaki person would have done something grossly stupid, as was his wont according to his interrogation with Kallen.

He needed to appeal to them, to make working for him sound far better than remaining a mere terrorist-slash resistance fighter. Unfortunately, being constantly in hiding from the infrequent Britannian security sweeps and probes, the Resistance fighters were likely professional paranoiacs, and would not trust him easily, if at all, initially.

C.C., who had been reclined on the bed during the phone call, now sat up and hugged him from behind. Lelouch had sensed her arousal as soon as he had walked in to his room. It had been all he could do to put her off until now.

When she had told him about Milly and Nina, he had merely nodded. He had suspected for a while that his oldest friend was bisexual; the video merely confirmed his suspicions. He had, of course, destroyed the disk with the footage on it at once, despite C.C.'s protests. No point leaving incriminating footage like that around.

Interestingly enough, C.C. said she had found the footage she had seen 'hot'. Lelouch privately agreed with her, but didn't show it outwardly.

"Lelouch…." C.C. purred sensually. Lelouch grinned ironically. Looks like he wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight either…

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip-The Next Day**

**Lunchtime, Student Council Room, Ashford Academy**

Lelouch was just finishing his lunch when his phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, he recognised Jeremiah's number. He stood up and walked over to the far wall before answering it, his voice low.

"Yes?"

"_My Lord, an urgent matter has come up that I think deserves your attention._" Jeremiah spoke in an equally low voice that still conveyed urgency in it's tone.

"Go on." Lelouch replied. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Milly and Rivalz trying to edge closer in an attempt to eavesdrop on his conversation. He directed a slight frown at the pair, eliciting a hasty retreat from the pair.

"_My subordinate, Sir Kewell __Soresi, came to me about an hour ago with a plan which is very much in the line of thinking with the Pureblood ideals._" Jeremiah reported, "_What he proposes, quite bluntly, is to frame an Honorary Britannian soldier for the murder of Prince Clovis, giving the Pureblood Faction, i.e. myself and Villetta, the excuse to disestablish the Honorary Britannian system._"

Disgust filled Lelouch. It was this kind of blatant and thoughtless racism that disgusted him the most about his countrymen. Saying that, it was one of the dozen or so scenarios he and Jeremiah had worked out as the most likely Britannian response, as distasteful as it was. The ebon haired boy let out a breath before he spoke.

"I expect he also chose the sacrificial lamb as well?" Lelouch asked, his voice barely showing any trace of anger.

"_He has indeed, My Lord: Suzaku Kururugi._" Jeremiah's voice sounded grim. Lelouch went white with shock.

"He…he's alive?" Lelouch whispered. He had told Jeremiah of his friendship with Suzaku the previous day, so his Knight knew why he was so shocked right now.

"_He is. He apparently got lucky enough to only get a minor cracked rib from the bullet that coward of a Royal Guardsman hit him with._" Jeremiah reported. "_A million-to-one chance. Private Kururugi seems to have some unusual luck._"

Lelouch had used the time Jeremiah had been talking to recompose himself. The rest of the Student Council were looking at him with concern mixed with curiosity at what could make him lose his composure like he had.

"What have you told him?" Lelouch asked.

Jeremiah snorted. "_I told him I'd consider it -after I had finished my paperwork. He ran off then in case I strong-armed him into helping me finish it._"

Lelouch smiled. "Well done. Now this is what I want you to do….." The exiled Prince swiftly outlined his plan to Jeremiah in quick, concise sentences while keeping his mouth covered. He suspected that Milly could lip-read, and he wasn't eager for her to find out what he was up to right at this particular moment.

"_Are you certain that is what you wish to do, My Lord?_" Jeremiah asked after Lelouch finished speaking, "_It seems somewhat hazardous for Private Kururugi and yourself._"

"Trust me, I'll have all perquisites for the plan to work cleared far in advance." Lelouch reassured his Knight. "I'll call you later with the full details. Bye." Lelouch hung up and walked back over to his almost finished lunch.

"Lulu, who was that on the phone?" Shirley asked. Lelouch looked at her as he sat back down.

"The owner of the casino I frequent. He wanted to try to ban me from his premises." Lelouch replied mildly, "I convinced him otherwise."

"Lulu! You shouldn't be gambling in the first place!" Shirley scolded him furiously, "You should focus on your schoolwork! Look at what happened the last time you went gambling!"

Lelouch visibly winced. "I take your point. I promise that I'll cut back, OK Shirley?" He sent a small smile in her direction, prompting the orangette's face to do a passable imitation of a tomato.

"By the way, thank you for spending time with Nunnally yesterday. I know she likes spending time with you and she does enjoy you visiting her." Lelouch said, tactfully changing the subject.

Shirley recovered somewhat and gave a genuine smile of joy. "Its fine, Lulu. I enjoy visiting her as well. How is she today?" she asked.

"She had a small fever this morning, so Sayoko is staying with her at the moment." Lelouch replied with a small frown, and then dismissed it. "She ought to be recovered fully by the end of school."

Milly frowned. "Nuna's been getting these small fevers fairly frequently." Lelouch nodded.

"The doctor's say that she shouldn't push herself too hard. Both Sayoko and I try to tell her that, but she is an exceptionally stubborn person when she wants to be." Lelouch said with a shrug. "Eventually, she overworks herself and gets a fever. Then it's just rinse and repeat."

"Stubborn, eh? That reminds me of a certain overprotective older brother of my acquaintance…" Milly teased him. Lelouch eyed her with scant favour. Evidently she was getting him back for his teasing yesterday.

Lelouch knew a losing hand when he saw one, so he deftly changed the subject. "Oh yes. Milly, I managed to convince Miss Stadtfelt to join the Student Council. She'll be coming over after school to be introduced to everyone."

"Aww." Milly pouted, "You take all the fun out of it if they just agree like that!" Lelouch sweatdropped as she began muttering under her breath and a faint dark aura surrounded her.

Clearing his throat, Lelouch addressed the blue-haired secretary. "Rivalz, can you scrounge together some food for the party? I'm afraid the stocks in the kitchen are a bit low at the moment."

Rivalz nodded. "Sure, as long as you pay me back for my new bike parts I had to get yesterday."

"Done." Lelouch said. "Oh, and no alcohol."

The secretary pouted a bit at this. "But-"

"No Rivalz." Lelouch said sternly, "I don't drink, neither does Milly, Shirley, Nina or Nunnally and I doubt someone whose body is weak will either. So, no alcohol."

"Fine." Rivalz relented reluctantly. Shirley and Nina threw Lelouch looks of gratitude and appreciation.

Lelouch cordially nodded back and headed off. He had a new plan to coordinate with Sayoko and C.C.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip-After School**

**Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy**

**Kallen's Perspective**

As she walked towards the Clubhouse, Kallen was more than a little apprehensive. She was going to meet the Student Council that Lelouch had told her about.

'_They don't sound _too_ bad._' She thought, '_From what Lelouch told me yesterday, the more problematic ones are Milly and the xenophobe._'

The redhead shook her head at the reality of a xenophobic girl living in a foreign country. You would have thought her parents would have more sense than that.

Upon arriving at the Clubhouse, she shook her head again at the extravagant building and knocked on the door. A heartbeat later, the maid from yesterday appeared and escorted her in.

Following the maid -Sayoko, she reminded herself- Kallen caught her first sight of the Ashford Academy Student Council.

A tall, classically beautiful girl with shoulder-length blond hair was placing trays of finger food on the table that had been placed in the centre of the ball room. Following her was a boy with blue hair and an entranced gaze fixed on the blond.

'_OK, the blond has to be Milly Ashford and the guy the secretary._' Kallen deduced from the snippets of information Lelouch had told her the day before.

Sitting in the corner was a green-haired girl typing away on a terminal. Her hair was in a pair of pigtails and she wore glasses. She also gave off a frail and timid aura, leaving Kallen to conclude that this one was the xenophobe.

A pouting girl with orange hair flounced in. "Madame President, Lulu wont let me help him carry in the rest of the food!" the orangette huffed.

The blue haired boy snapped out of his not-so-secret daydream to say, "He does have good reason, Shirley. Last time he let you carry plates, you tripped up and smashed the lot."

This little speech earned him a small glare from the girl -Shirley- and her pout deepened.

"Aw, how cute." Milly teased. " _'I want to help my Lulu in the kitchen so he'll see how womanly I am!' _Is that it, Shirley?"

Kallen had never seen someone blush that much ever; the girl's face resembled a giant tomato. "MILLY!" Shirley shrieked in acute embarrassment and mortification.

Evidently deciding that now was as good a time as any to interrupt, Sayoko gave a small cough, drawing the attention of the Council members.

"Lady Ashford…" Sayoko began, but was interrupted by Milly.

"Sayoko, we've been over this a hundred times. My name is Milly, so please use it. You know how much I dislike standing on ceremony." Milly scolded the maid.

"But I'm employed by the Ashford Family!" Sayoko protested, " I have to refer to you as such."

"Not unless there are people outside the Council here, Sayoko." a voice interjected smoothly. Lelouch strode in, wearing an apron over his uniform and another tray of food in his hands. As he set it down on the table, he continued.

"While you have to call her 'Lady' in public, you are among friends here, so please drop the formalities." When Sayoko still looked somewhat intransient about the whole matter, Lelouch added, "I can make that an order if you prefer."

Sayoko rolled her eyes at this. "Lelouch-sama, why is it that you only use your authority at times like this?" she asked in a resigned tone.

Lelouch grinned. "A person with authority has to choose the right times to use said authority, otherwise there would be no point in having it in the first place." the ebon-haired boy replied, a slight note of teasing evident in his voice.

Looking around at the grins on the faces of the Council, Kallen concluded that this was a frequent argument and had become something of a habit between Sayoko and Lelouch.

Shaking her head slightly, Sayoko continued with what she had been about to say. "I have brought Miss Kallen Stadtfelt."

With that sentence, the attention of the Student Council switched to Kallen, who started slightly at the attention she was receiving.

"Kallen, glad you could make it." Lelouch said, nodding at her with a small smile. Kallen shyly responded with a nod of her own.

"Introductions are in order, I believe." Lelouch continued. "Well, starting at the top, the pretty lady over here is Milly Ashford." He gestured at Milly, who flushed slightly at being called pretty but recovered with admirable alacrity.

"Nice to meet you, Kallen. I'm sure we'll become _good_ friends." Milly said, an unidentifiable light twinkling in her eye. Kallen recalled that Lelouch had told her that Milly was fond of teasing people.

"Hi." Kallen mumbled, keeping 'in character' for her shy, sickly self, even although it made her want to throw up.

"Over here, we have Rivalz Cardemonde, the secretary of the Student Council." Lelouch continued with the introductions. Rivalz paused in pouring himself a glass of juice to give her a quick wave.

"Yo. If ya need anything, let me know. Chances are I can get you it." Rivalz said with a grin.

'_I'd like one Japan, without the Britannians, if you please._' Kallen thought dryly as she nodded back.

"The shy girl on the computer is Nina Einstein, our resident genius." The green-haired girl went 'eep!' with fright when Lelouch introduced her, but still managed to stutter out a greeting.

"Hi Nina." Kallen said kindly. The poor girl looked as if she was going to faint.

"Over here, the cute girl with the orange hair is Shirley Fenette. She's also a member of the Swimming Club."

"LULU?!" Shirley yelped in shock, going even redder than when Milly was teasing her. Kallen stifled a giggle and said, "Nice to meet you Shirley."

Shirley swung her head back around to face Kallen, her face still rosy from her blush. "Nice to meet you too Kallen." she said as she eyed Lelouch out of the corner of her eye, a slight amount of worry present.

"Big Brother, could you grab this tray?" a sweet voice asked from behind the group. As the council parted and turned, Kallen caught sight of the speaker.

An adorably cute girl in a wheelchair approached, a tray of food in her lap. She had waist length sandy brown hair and wore the uniform of the middle school division. Her eyes were closed, which puzzled Kallen.

"Here Nuna, I'll get it." Shirley said and started forward, but was intercepted by Milly, while Sayoko picked up the tray.

Milly looked over at Kallen. "This is Lelouch's sister Nunnally." she said by way of introduction.

"I'm still in middle school division, so I can't be on the council yet." Nunnally said, somewhat forlornly.

"That's alright, you're an honorary member in our book." Rivalz said kindly. Nina nodded in agreement.

"Hello there. It's a pleasure to meet you Kallen." Nunnally said with a smile and a slight bow.

Kallen found herself smiling back. She really was too damned cute for words. "Thank you. You as well." She replied.

Lelouch stepped towards Nunnally and knelt beside her. "Hey Nunnally. How's that fever?"

"It's gone." Nunnally said quickly. Evidently too quickly for Lelouch's liking as he pressed the back of his hand to her forehead and frowned.

"Sayoko, can you go and get Nunnally's medicine for me please. Her fever is still here." he called at the maid, who nodded and vanished down a corridor, only to reappear seconds later carrying a bottle in one hand.

Kallen blinked at this. As Lelouch fed a protesting Nunnally her medicine, she asked, "Do you keep a spare bottle here just in case?"

Shaking his head as he re-screwed the bottle, Lelouch replied, "No, we live in the Clubhouse. It would be….challenging for Nunnally to live in the dorms, so the Dean lets us live here as a favour."

"It really is nice of him to do us this favour." Nunnally added, pulling a slight face at the taste of the medicine, "I get to live with my brother, so I'm happy."

Kallen felt like she had been kicked in the stomach. Just for an instant, she saw herself and her brother taking the place of Nunnally and Lelouch. Exerting rigid control over her face, she didn't allow a single flicker of her melancholy mood to show on the surface.

After that, the Council got down to the business of the afternoon: welcoming their new member into their ranks. Kallen was startled to discover that Lelouch was a highly skilled cook and had almost single-handedly cooked the entirety of the food laid out on the table, the sole exception being a couple of boxes of pizza he had ordered from Pizza Hut.

After a while, Rivalz turned the TV on. The news was on and the content took everyone off guard. Prince Clovis, Viceroy of Area 11 was dead. No details were given as to the circumstances of his death, other than the fact it was murder.

Kallen was stunned. This is what Zero had done? He had assassinated a Prince of the Realm? She recalled what he had said to her the previous day, '_…be patient and you will see a little of my work._'

Around her, the Council were in shock. Nina was trembling like a leaf, only abating somewhat when Milly put a hand on her shoulder, Rivalz was gaping like a fish, Shirley looked sick, Nunnally was crying softly and Lelouch looked like a statue.

Then an announcement from the leader of the Pureblood faction, Jeremiah Gottwald, came up. He was standing in the Area 11 Administrative Centre's State Broadcast room, two ranks of the Pureblood Faction standing at ease behind him and his second in command, Villetta Nu, standing off to the side.

Jeremiah gave a long and pompous speech about the virtues of Prince Clovis that made Kallen want to spit in disgust. Another part of her took in the sight of the man she had forced to eject back in Shinjuku. So he was the leader of the Purebloods, eh? That must have been a blow to his ego.

The newscaster reappeared after Jeremiah's speech, a serious expression on her face as she spoke. "_This just in: a man has been arrested and charged with the murder of Prince Clovis._"

The screen switched to that of two uniformed soldiers frogmarching a man in a prisoner's restraint jacket, with a pair of armed soldiers in front and behind them.

"_The suspect, an Honorary Britannian, is Suzaku Kururugi, a former Eleven._" The newscaster spoke as the viewers watched the figure of Suzaku struggle and his mouth moved, probably protesting his arrest, until one of the soldiers restraining him smacked him across the jaw, temporarily silencing him.

After that the party broke up and everyone went home. As Kallen sat in the limo she was forced to ride in order to blend in with the Britannians, she thought on what she had seen today.

'_The man called Zero…what is his agenda?_' Kallen wondered, her brow furrowed in thought. All she knew about him was the sound of his voice and that he knew the identity of both herself and her Resistance Cell. He also seemed to be an excellent strategist and tactician, to judge by how he had directed them at Shinjuku.

Well, they would find out tomorrow hopefully. It had taken her over an hour of begging, pleading, threatening and coercing to convince her group to meet with Zero. The only one who had voted against the idea in the end was Tamaki as she had expected. Sometimes, she wondered how someone as idiotic as Tamaki could survive something as simple as walking down the street -the man was so dense he had his own event horizon.

"Tomorrow, we shall see." she murmured aloud.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip-1 Hour, 30 Minutes**

**Living Room, Ashford Academy Student Council Clubhouse**

Lelouch was finishing up his homework when a quiet knock on the door made him look up. Sayoko stood in the open doorway, looking concerned. This set off alarm bells in Lelouch. Sayoko was very much unflappable in almost any situation, so she must be seriously concerned at whatever it is that brought her here.

"Sayoko?" He queried. Sayoko bit her lip softly before she spoke.

"Lelouch-sama, Milly-sama is here. She wishes to speak to you….alone." Sayoko reported.

Lelouch frowned. Milly usually talked to him and Nunnally together if it had something to do with the Ashford Family's internal politics, so it couldn't be about that. Nor was this likely a social visit owing to the impression Milly had left on Sayoko when she had come in.

"Did she say what it was she wished to discuss?" Lelouch asked.

Sayoko shook her head. "No, but when I used my…._gift_ on her, her aura was a rapidly shifting mix of white and red. I also got impressions of worry, fear and anger….directed at you, My Lord."

"At _me_?" Lelouch said in surprise. What the hell could have made Milly angry at him? The exiled prince sighed heavily.

"Well, I had better find out what it is I have done to evoke Milly's wrath." Lelouch said as he got up.

C.C., who had been lounging on his bed, regarded Lelouch lazily.

"Do you need Sayoko?" She asked evenly.

Surprised, Lelouch shook his head. "No. She's in the office section of the Clubhouse, correct?" he turned to Sayoko for confirmation. She nodded.

"Good. I need to have a…discussion with her in private, so this is good timing." The green-haired immortal said, a sly grin crossing her face as she spoke.

Lelouch shuddered when he saw that grin. It was far too reminiscent of Milly's own grin which stated, to all those who knew her well, '_I have mischief planned and no-one can stop me from doing it. No ifs ands or buts about it._'

Flashing a concerned look at Sayoko as he left, Lelouch walked off to look for Milly, leaving his maid to the tender mercies of the immortal.

When he reached the office on the first floor of the Clubhouse, He spotted Milly. She was still in her school uniform and was sitting in the visitor's chair of the office with her legs crossed, the top leg swinging back and forth nervously. She was fidgeting in her seat and was tugging nervously with a lock of her hair.

All in all she was nerves personified at the moment, which puzzled Lelouch. Milly was almost as unflappable as Sayoko. It took a lot to unnerve the Ashford heiress.

Shaking his head, Lelouch walked over and sat behind the desk. He had a feeling that whatever had succeeded in unnerving Milly, he might want some space in between himself and his childhood friend.

Just in case.

Milly started when Lelouch sat down in front of her. Evidently she had been lost in thought and hadn't noticed him until ha had entered her line of sight.

"Lelouch! You scared the hell out of me!" Milly scolded him, "Make a noise when you enter a room!"

Lelouch hitched an eyebrow. "I did. You were too caught up in your thoughts to notice me."

Milly flushed in embarrassment. "Oh, shut up." she muttered, making Lelouch grin before he became serious again.

"Might I ask what brings you here at this time, Milly? I can only presume it is something serious if you are missing your weekly dinner with your father?" Lelouch asked.

Milly eyed Lelouch for a moment before she spoke. "I know."

Lelouch blinked. "Beg pardon?" he asked.

"I said 'I know.'" Milly snapped.

"I'm sorry." Lelouch said slowly, "But I'm afraid you're going to have to be a little more specific. Exactly what is it that you know and what does it have to do with me?"

"Theta Base." Milly said simply.

Lelouch's eyes widened almost imperceptivity. "I'm not sure-" he began only to be cut off by Milly.

"Oh give up with the denials already." Milly sighed in mild frustration. "Did you really think the Ashford family would leave a complex as extensive as that with no security cameras? We built the place after all!"

Lelouch regarded her for a moment before deciding to drop the façade.

"I disabled every camera I could find," Lelouch said calmly, "And I eventually traced the off-site security monitoring station and destroyed it."

Milly stared at him like he was a stranger. "Lelouch that was only the primary one, the one known to most of the family. There was a secondary station known only to the head of the family and the heir that activated after the first went down."

Lelouch cursed. "I _knew_ there was another one, but Nunnally fell ill when I was going to go looking for it. It went clean out of my head afterwards." He gave Milly a searching look.

"Just what prompted you to check on it today of all days?" he asked curiously.

"Your reaction to Prince Clovis' death." Milly replied. "Everyone showed some sort of visual sign that they were taken off guard -except you. Almost as if you were expecting it and had steeled yourself for the announcement."

A wry smile crossed Lelouch's face. "I didn't think anyone was paying attention. Should have known I wouldn't escape your eye." He joked.

"Be serious Lelouch!" Milly shot at him, "I saw the footage. I saw Sayoko enter with a Sutherland. Just _where_ did she get a Sutherland?"

Lelouch returned her intent gaze with a flat look of his own. "Someone as smart as you has probably already guessed where." he said.

Milly closed her eyes and massaged her temples. "Shinjuku. You did more than run around like a civilian, then."

"I directed the terrorists against Clovis' forces and caused about 80% casualties among the Knightmares." Lelouch said with a chuckle. "Clovis always was bad at chess."

Milly opened her eyes and threw Lelouch a piercing look. "You did more than that, didn't you." She spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, as if she knew the answer.

"The answer is a lot more complicated than you might think, Milly." Lelouch warned her, "For what he ordered done, both within Shinjuku and without, Clovis would have earned an execution, even if he was a prince."

Milly frowned. "You do realise that I have to hear the details of this now that you've dropped such a tantalising hint?"

"I suppose so." Lelouch replied with a sigh of resignation. He then launched into a summary of events that hit the highpoints of The Shinjuku Massacre and the Battle of Shinjuku, only omitting the power of Geass, C.C.'s current location and his future plans.

After he finished, Lelouch carefully watched Milly sitting in silence as she processed what she had been told. This was a gamble. He had a fairly good idea about how his childhood friend would react to his tale, otherwise he would have used Geass on her for her own good, but there was always the human factor to consider, the unpredictability of a human mind and how it will react to any given situation.

'_Then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?_' Lelouch thought in wry amusement.

Milly let out a sigh as she raised her head to look at Lelouch.

"I suppose I can't really blame you for doing what you did, Lelouch." the blond-haired girl said at last, a serious expression on her face. "After what you went through during the Second Pacific War, It is perfectly understandable that you would step in to prevent a repeat of the Gunma Massacre."

Lelouch nodded cautiously when Milly paused, then gulped slightly when her face shifted into a searing glare.

"But, regardless of the reasons, _how could you_? How could you _risk_ yourself like that?" Milly hissed at him, "How could you risk leaving Nunnally _alone_? How _could_ you?!"

Lelouch leaned back in his chair, unconsciously trying to get away from the glaring woman opposite him. She was currently more intimidating than Cornelia had been the first time he had danced with Euphemia!

"Milly…" Lelouch said slowly, then stopped. Two streams of tears were falling from Milly's eyes even as she glared at him.

Lelouch stood abruptly and walked around the desk to stand next to Milly's chair, the girl's glare following him as he did. Kneeling down, he wrapped a very surprised Milly into a hug.

"L-Lelouch?" Milly managed to squeak out, her face turning cherry red.

"Sorry for frightening you." Lelouch whispered to her softly, "I promise to be more careful, alright?"

Milly slumped forward slightly and then returned the hug. "I thought I lost you and Nunnally when Britannia invaded Japan. I cried for over a week. Then, when you and Nuna showed up at our mansion….I've never been so relieved." She whispered, "I swore then to do everything I could to protect you and Nunnally. If I lost you again, I-I don't know what I'd do."

"I know. I know." Lelouch said soothingly. "But Milly, you _do_ understand why I have to do this, don't you?"

Milly grumbled for a moment before nodding slightly. Lelouch gently squeezed the girl in his arms before releasing her and returning to his own seat. Drumming his fingers on the table, Lelouch regarded Milly thoughtfully as she wiped the tears away.

"I trust that I can count on your discretion in this matter, Milly." he said once the Ashford Heiress had pulled herself together.

Milly nodded briskly. "Of course. I won't lose you or Nunnally to anything again, and I certainly won't risk you both by tattling on you!" Milly's face then became worried. "Just promise me that you'll be careful."

Lelouch looked Milly in the eye. "You have my word that I will not take any unnecessary risks, but there are risks on the battlefield that are unavoidable."

Milly nodded in reluctant agreement at the qualifier.

"I would also appreciate it if the monitoring station you used could be….removed from the equation." Lelouch continued, "I would prefer not to leave a hole in my security that can be -and has been- exploited."

"I'll try." Milly said, doubt edging her voice, "But as I said, only myself and my Grandfather know about it, and Grandfather is too busy with Ashford Family business to have the time to check it. I really don't think that you are in any danger of being exposed."

Lelouch looked at her for a moment before he shook his head slightly. "Milly, this is not negotiable. It is far too risky to leave unattended." His voice was firm and unyielding on the subject.

Milly's eyes widened fractionally. This wasn't the voice of her childhood friend or her schoolmate or even her fellow council member; this was the voice of a leader. Fully in control and exuding a commanding presence that made the Ashford Heiress blush slightly.

"I-I'll try, Lelouch. That's all I can promise." Milly said as she schooled her face into something resembling her normal countenance.

The exiled prince nodded his head. "That's all I ask." he told his childhood friend solemnly.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**The Next Day, Ashford Academy Auditorium, 12.00**

Lelouch stifled a yawn as the principal of the High School Division droned on about 'what a great loss it was for the Empire to have lost a great leader' with the death of Prince Clovis.

'_You wouldn't say any of that if you knew the depths of his depravity._' Lelouch thought darkly as he tuned out the man's voice and focused on the conversation he had had with Milly the previous night.

The fact that the Ashford Family had the ability to spy on his trump card was more than slightly worrying for the exiled Prince. Only two things stopped him ordering Sayoko to search for and destroy the place.

Firstly, the limited number of people who had knowledge of the surveillance room. Only the former Lord Ashford and his appointed Heir, Milly, even knew about the room's existence. With the number of duties that even a cast-down Lord possessed, it was highly unlikely that the man would check the room unless his attention was directed to it, leaving Milly the only one who would be using the surveillance room frequently, at least until she disabled it.

Secondly, Milly had given her word that she would render the room unusable. Until he had reason to suspect that she was deliberately procrastinating the destruction of the room, he had to trust that she was working on it.

Lelouch was drawn from his ruminating when the Principal stopped talking and dismissed the students, much to Lelouch's considerable relief.

As he walked out of the Auditorium and into the hall, Shirley caught up to him.

"Lulu, is it me, or was the principal even more…._patriotic_ than he usually is?" The orangette asked with a small frown on her face that Lelouch found rather fetching on her.

"He's adjusting to the new political climate." Lelouch explained, "When General Bartley, Prince Clovis' second in command, disappeared after the assassination, it left a power vacuum that was swiftly filled by the Pureblood faction."

Shirley flinched at the mention of the fanatical Royalists. Hardly surprising, considering the Purebloods considered collateral damage to be an inevitability rather than a possibility to be avoided.

"And of course the Purebloods are going to try to make a statement about their beliefs on how the Area's should be run. The Principal is just trying to dodge any attention they might send his way by acting like one of them." Lelouch finished with a wry look on his face.

"Wait, the Purebloods are gonna what?" Shirley asked as she came to a halt and turned to face her ebon-haired crush.

"Well, from what I've gathered, the Purebloods believe that only pureblood Britannians should serve in the military, so the person they've arrested for assassinating Prince Clovis, Kururugi, is likely not the culprit." Lelouch said as he maintained a neutral expression at the injustice that had befallen his naïve and loyal friend.

"The military wouldn't make an accusation like this without proof, even the Purebloods!" Shirley protested.

'_Ah Shirley. How trusting and naïve you are._' Lelouch thought fondly as he replied to her, "Think about it Shirley. Kururugi was an Honorary Britannian Footsoldier. How would he have gained access to a weapon? Unless they are decade-long enlisted, Honorary Britannians are _not_ allowed firearms."

Shirley's eyes widened at this unknown piece of trivia.

"Furthermore, how would he have gotten close to Prince Clovis? He was the Viceroy of Area Eleven, constantly under round the clock guard and surveillance. How did Kururugi get past all of the cameras and guards? I don't recall any cameras reported as destroyed, nor any Royal Guards reported killed." Lelouch continued, shaking his head as he did.

"No, Kururugi is a scapegoat. Whoever really killed His Highness got clean away." Lelouch concluded quietly, standing close to Shirley so only she could hear him, making her face flush bright red.

"Hey Lelouch!" a voice called from behind him. Rivalz jogged up to his side. "Got anything planned for later on? Classes have been dismissed for the day and some people want a rematch." As he spoke, Rivalz made a motion with his right hand that resembled moving a chess piece.

Shirley's eyes narrowed as she snapped out, "You guys are _not_ going gambling!"

Rivalz flinched back at the vehemence in her voice. "Yeesh, don't be such a stick in the mud." he muttered weakly, earning him an even stronger glare from a bristling Shirley.

"No, she's right. I should cut back on gambling for a while." Lelouch interjected swiftly, before Mount Shirley erupted, "Besides I have an appointment this afternoon."

"An appointment?" Shirley asked, distracted from her death glare at Rivalz, who sighed in relief and wiped his brow of imaginary sweat at his reprieve.

"I have to go to the tailors." Lelouch told them with a small smile.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Unknown Location, 13.00**

"Is my order complete?" Lelouch asked softly.

The only other occupant in the room was an elderly man who frequently served as the lure for attracting arrogant nobles seeking a chance to 'prove their noble mental superiority' over a 'lowly commoner' in a game of chess. He also ran a very select costume business, which had thrived under the dandy, party going Prince Clovis. It was to this man Lelouch had addressed his question.

"Yes. Everything is just as you requested. It is being worked on by the finest in the field. Once the slide-system is complete, it's all yours. It should be finished momentarily" The man replied in a monotone. He also had red rings around his eyes.

"And my other two requests?" Lelouch enquired.

"Ah. They were somewhat more difficult to accomplish, but I have confidence that they will be completed within the next three days." His Geassed henchman replied.

"Very good." Lelouch said approvingly. "Well then, _Fool's Check_."

Upon the uttering of the last two words, the old man jerked somewhat and blinked blearily as he peered through his specs at the young man standing across from him.

"Mister Lelouch?" He asked, "Sir, what are you doing here? I don't believe we've made any, ah, _arrangements_ for a short while."

"I came to have a small chat with you." Lelouch told him, truthfully, "You just spaced out for a while there, and I was a bit worried."

"Did I? Oh dear, I am sorry sir." The old man said, distress crossing his face.

"Have you been sleeping enough? I have told you that you need to have at least six hours of sleep." Lelouch asked sternly.

"I-well, that is….no." The costume maker deflated somewhat. "There has been a rush of orders for appropriate funeral and mourning wear, so I'm afraid time gets a little away from me."

Lelouch sighed and gave the man a stern look. "Please make sure to get at least ONE good night's sleep a week. I know that you are busy, but you need sleep as much as anyone. Understand?"

"Yes sir." The man replied, wilting under Lelouch's gaze. A knock on the door distracted him.

"Yes?" the costume maker called. The door opened, revealing one of his assistants. He had a pair of metal suitcases in his hands and his eyes bore the red rings of someone under the control of Geass. He set his burdens down, bowed at the old man and retreated out the door.

"What in the-" The old man began to say, before Lelouch cut him off.

"_King's Gambit._"

At once, the old man came to attention, red rings flickering into existence around his irises. "Milord." he said crisply.

"Confirm that my items are in order." Lelouch told him briskly. As the man opened the first case and began sorting through its contents, Lelouch began thinking of his meeting with the Resistance Cell in a couple of hour's time.

'_The ones who will come are the main movers and shakers in the Cell. Thanks to the information I acquired from Kallen, I can predict, to a certain extent, how each of them will react, but what is vitally important is that I maintain the upper hand._' Lelouch withdrew a small data card from his pocket and looked at it with a grim smile. '_And thanks to my Knight, I have just the thing to keep them off balance _and_ allowing me to maintain the upper hand whilst simultaneously being seen as generous and thoughtful._'

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**15.55, Old Tokyo Tower Observation Deck**

Kallen Kōzuki walked through the exhibits on display in what had once been a symbol of Japanese pride and had to restrain herself from smashing the blatantly obvious pro-Britannian propaganda that made up the overwhelming majority of the exhibits.

'_Any person with a whit of common sense wouldn't believe half of this stuff!_' Kallen thought angrily as she forced herself to walk normally rather than storm forward as she felt like doing, '_Like that exhibit! _Seppuku_ isn't just a form of ritual death! It's also a way to die with honour rather than be tortured to death by your enemies! Damn Britannians!_'

Kallen was wearing her Ashford Academy uniform so as to seem inconspicuous among the crowd. Old Tokyo Tower was a popular meeting spot for various reasons and for various people. Kallen would have preferred to wear her Resistance outfit, but she had been overruled.

Trailing a few meters behind her, Ohgi, Tamaki and Sugiyama were walking together and making a great show of observing the exhibits whilst simultaneously keeping a weather eye on Kallen.

"Ohgi, I still say we shouldn't meet with this guy!" Tamaki stage whispered to his friend as they looked at pictures of the initial beachheads made by Britannian forces during the Second Pacific War.

"Tamaki, _enough_!" Ohgi whispered back, "The decision was made by vote and you were the only one who voted against it. You didn't even have to come along!"

"_Someone_ has to keep it real around here, Ohgi." Tamaki replied disdainfully.

Kallen, meanwhile, looked up when a ding-ding-dang-dong chime was issued by the public address system.

"**Attention please. Paging Miss Kallen Stadtfelt of Ashford Academy. One of your personal effects has been turned in at the kiosk on the Observation Deck. Please come and pick it up before closing time."**

Kallen immediately made her way to the information kiosk, with Ohgi's group (not so)stealthily following her.

"Hello, how can I help you?" The woman behind the counter asked brightly. Kallen mentally cringed at what she wore -a pale pink blazer with a matching skirt and bonnet. You couldn't offer her enough money to wear that!

Kallen removed her Ashford Student ID from her pocket and showed it to the woman. "I'm Kallen Stadtfelt. I heard the announcement. I believe you have something of mine?" She stated politely.

"Ah, Miss Stadtfelt. One moment please." The woman said before kneeling down underneath the counter and emerged holding a crimson purse. "I'm assuming this is yours?" she asked as she held the purse out.

"Y-Yes, thank you." Kallen managed to get out as she took the purse and examined it for a moment. It was slightly too large to fit into her hand and was embroidered in gold thread with a symbol that she didn't recognise. It resembled a flapping bird bisected by a sword.

"Um...did you happen to notice who handed this in? I'd like to thank them." Kallen asked the woman after a moment.

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice." The woman replied. Disappointed, Kallen thanked her and turned away, missing the red corona around the woman's irises.

After she reached a reasonably isolated area, she opened the purse and peered at the contents. Inside there was a folded sheet of paper and nothing else. Removing the paper, she unfolded it and read the message printed on the paper.

"_Q-1-_

_You might want to tell Tamaki-san to keep it down, I could hear him on the other side of the Deck._

_Board the outbound train on Loop line 5 and bring your 'shadows' with you. Have the phone at the ready._

_-Zero_"

"Tamaki, you _idiot_!" Kallen hissed quietly as she threw a small glare at the loudmouth standing a few meters away from her, causing him to quail and shrink away from her angry gaze.

She calmed herself down as she looked at Ohgi and jerked her head at the elevator before she walked off. Getting the idea, Ohgi nudged his team into following her.

Once the elevator was closed and en-route, Kallen gave full vent to her spleen at Tamaki, making the arrogant man cringe and hunch his shoulders in an effort to endure the tide of verbal invectives and chastisement being heaped upon him by his fellow redhead.

After a couple of minutes of browbeating Tamaki, Kallen calmed down and handed the note over to Ohgi, who winced after reading it.

"Jeez Tamaki, you _are_ loud if he heard you across the entire damned _deck_!" Ohgi said as he shook his head in wonderment, causing Tamaki to pout childishly and let out a "Humph!" of displeasure.

"Call Inoue's group and have them meet us at the station." Ohgi told Sugiyama, who nodded and snapped his phone open and began dialling.

Ohgi turned to Kallen. "Kallen, you're our primary contact with this Zero character, so we'll leave most of the talking up to you, OK?"

Kallen smiled at him. "That's fine. Once we get into serious talking, I'll turn it over to you."

Tamaki snorted. "I say we find him and silence him, then go home."

"And _that_ short-sightedness is why you're not the leader, Tamaki!" Kallen said contemptfully.

Tamaki was forced to throttle anything he would have retorted back at her, as the elevator shuddered to a halt and it's doors creaked open haltingly.

The walk to the nearby monorail station was relatively uneventful, only broken by the arrival of Minami and Inoue, and the occasional sulky whining by Tamaki.

Once they boarded the monorail, Kallen was a bit unnerved. All the passengers were sitting or standing perfectly still, unmoving save for breathing. Not talking, not fidgeting.

It was too weird for words.

Abruptly, the phone she had been holding loosely in her hand began vibrating. A quick glance confirmed that it was Zero and she quickly answered it.

"Hello?" She whispered. While the passengers were eerily non-responsive, she wouldn't fall into the assumption that they were of no threat to her.

"_Thank you for coming, Q-1._" The by now familiar voice of Zero responded to her voice almost immediately, "_Now, face forward and look to your right. Tell me what you see._"

Frowning, Kallen did so. She saw the Britannian Settlement, prompting a surge of loathing to rise up within her.

"I see the Britannian City. It was stolen from us, and built on our sacrifices." She said, keeping her voice low with considerable effort.

"_And on the left?_" Zero queried, his voice devoid of emotion and inflection.

"I see _our_ city. Remnants of a desiccated city after the Britannians sucked it dry." Kallen replied, anger slightly colouring her voice at the sight of the Ghettos' crumbling buildings and assorted rubble left over from the Invasion.

"_Good answer._" Zero said, approval clear in his voice, causing Kallen to unconsciously grin with pride. This was not missed by Ohgi or Tamaki, who raised an eyebrow apiece at this sight.

"_Make your way to the front of the train, your escorts as well._" Zero directed, before hanging up.

Kallen looked at Ohgi and jerked her head at the door leading to the next compartment before advancing that way herself, swiftly followed by the rest of her group.

Walking along the aisle of the compartments, Kallen noted that every single person on the train seemed to be listless and unresponsive. She wondered what could cause such a thing, but quickly dismissed her musings as the last compartment was just ahead of her.

As the door hissed open, Kallen walked through the entrance - then halted as she beheld a solitary figure standing on the other side of the compartment.

The figure was slightly taller than herself by perhaps two inches. He -She?- wore a long black cloak with gold edging and a cape concealed the figure's head. The unknown figure, presumably Zero, was also facing away from them, a fact that irritated Tamaki once he entered.

"Hey! Turn around and face us!" He yelled indignantly at the caped figure, shaking his fist in his fit of pique. Kallen rolled her eyes. What was the point of shaking his fist at a person who could not even _see_ it?

"Shut up, Tamaki!" She snapped at the impulsive man.

"But-"

"I said, shut _up_!"

Tamaki closed his mouth with an audible click as her second admonishment was accompanied with one of her glares that, to be frank, scared the living hell out of him. No _way_ was he going to risk Kallen losing her temper with him. The last time _that_ had happened, Tamaki had received a black eye and a slight concussion from being TKO'd.

Just then, the train entered a tunnel, plunging them into semi-darkness. And it was then that the cloaked figure whirled around to face them.

'_Looks like Zero has a flair for the dramatic._' Kallen thought wryly. She immediately began examining the figure before her.

The cape/cloak she had noted earlier was wrapped around him -definitely a male, she absently noted- and concealed most of his body. His legs were clad in a dark purple bodysuit that Kallen could only presume covered most of his body. It was his head that made Kallen raise an eyebrow in puzzlement.

His head was concealed behind a black and indigo mask that had five spikes on the sides and rear. A golden bird-like symbol was emblazoned on the chin area of the mask. At his neck was an elegantly tied white cravat.

All in all, Zero exuded a more than slightly intimidating aura. Kallen concluded that she would have to be very cautious when dealing with him as there were too many unknowns about him.

"Welcome, Resistance Fighters." The masked man spoke, his voice blurred and unrecognisable by the voice modulator that was apparently built into his helmet, "I am Zero."

"You were the one behind the ceasefire at Shinjuku?" Ohgi questioned, making Kallen roll her eyes. He had completely forgotten his own order!

"I was."

"Did you also kill Clovis?" Inoue interjected.

"I did not pull the trigger myself, but his death was at my order, yes." Zero replied, "And no, Suzaku Kururugi was not the triggerman."

Kallen silenced any other questions from her group with a glare before stepping forward. "Zero, I am Kallen Kōzuki. Before we begin, I would like to thank you for 'arranging' the ceasefire. We would have been dead if you had not."

Zero inclined his head towards her. "As I told you before, Ms. Kōzuki, I will not allow innocents to suffer at the hands of a power mad maniac. Saving your lives, as fortuitous as it may have been, was merely incidental to preventing the deaths of the remaining civilians in Shinjuku."

Unfortunately, the eternal idiot called Tamaki decided to butt into the conversation.

"Take of your mask and show us your face!" he sneered, "We cant trust you otherwise!"

Zero's faceless mask turned to regard the redheaded man. Although no face could be seen, Zero had the air of someone who was smiling.

"I was wondering when you would speak up, Shinichiro." Zero remarked.

"Don't use my first name!" Tamaki bleated, "And use honorifics damn it!"

"Now Shinichiro," Zero said placidly, "'Who' is only the form following that of 'What' and what I am is a man in a mask."

"We can see that." Sugiyama remarked dryly.

"Of course you can, I am not casting doubts on your powers of sight." Zero said. "I am merely remarking upon the paradox of _asking a masked man who he is_."

Tamaki's face rapidly turned puce at the obvious talking-to-a-young-child tone Zero had taken whilst his head was pointed at Tamaki in particular.

Kallen, while mentally laughing her head off at the fury present on Tamaki's face, maintained a neutral expression as she spoke over anything Tamaki might say. "A good point. I think that Zero has earned his privacy for leading us to victory over a _battalion_ of Knightmares, gifting us with _state of the art_ Knightmare frames, preventing a massacre of the inhabitants of Shinjuku that refused to evacuate and orchestrating the death of the _instigator_ of the aforementioned debacle. Wouldn't you all agree?"

Mutters of agreement came from the rest of her companions essentially sealed any hope Tamaki might have had of unmasking the man before him and, as he so often did, he reacted without thinking and charged Zero with a cry of anger and frustration.

"Impulsive aren't we?" Zero remarked as the angry man drew close to him. With a snarl, Tamaki drew his fist back and punched at Zero….

….only to miss the black clad man completely. Tamaki blinked in surprise. That wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to punch the masked guy and then beat the crap out of him, because he, Shinichiro Tamaki, was just that _awesome_.

Instead, the masked guy had seemed to _blur_ and vanish from his sight and now Tamaki was stumbling forward, trying to regain his balance, due to his punch leaving him overextended. Once he managed to get himself under control, he looked around for his target -then froze when he spotted him.

Zero stood two steps to the right of his former position, his cloak as unruffled as it had been before Tamaki's charge and his head cocked to the side as if examining the redheaded man before him like a biology class dissection experiment.

"You overextended yourself on that punch." Zero commented, "I would guess that any martial arts training you've had has been either entirely self-taught or somewhat lacking in the theory-to-practical-applications area."

"It's been the former." Yoshida said.

"Shut up!" Tamaki yelled as he directed another punch at Zero, which was dodged with the same ease as the first.

"Damn you, stay still!" the angry man yelled at Zero.

"What kind of idiot would _actually_ stay still when he's being attacked?" Zero replied derisively.

"Tamaki!" Ohgi shouted, a mix of anger, frustration and resignation in his voice, "Stop this at once!"

"Like hell!" Tamaki shouted as he charged recklessly at the masked man once again, his arm drawn back for another strong punch.

"Give it up." Zero told him coldly as he stood in his original position, "You are completely out of your league. I could defeat you with the greatest of ease should I wish to."

"BRING IT!" Tamaki howled as he swung his fist at his opponent. A sigh of resignation could be discerned from the masked man.

"As you wish." Zero remarked. He did not, however, alter his stance. He merely brought his arms out from under his cloak and held them at the ready. When Tamaki's third punch drew near, Zero reacted with lightning reflexes and caught the incoming blow with a single hand.

Tamaki gaped at what Zero had done. He had caught his punch! No-one had done that before! Except Naoto, but he didn't count, 'cause he was _Naoto_!

"There are twenty-seven bones in each hand." Zero remarked idly, "And the interesting thing about the arm's bones in general is that if _any_ of the bones are broken, the entirety of the arm has to be immobilised in order for the bone to heal, due to them being interconnected to such a high degree. I would imagine the same could be said for the feet as well."

As he had been speaking, Zero had grasped Tamaki's hand and gradually increased the strength of his grip, until the redheaded man was howling in pain.

"I _trust_-" Zero said, his tone becoming dark and heavy with emphasis, "-that such a thing will _not_ have to happen in order to cease your attacks upon my person?"

"OK, OK, I get it, just let my hand go already!" Tamaki yelped.

"Of course." Zero said, his voice sounding more amicable, and he let go of the hand he held captive.

Tamaki staggered back, cradling his abused appendage and glowering at Zero. He felt a hand land on his shoulder and looked up into Ohgi's furious eyes.

The hot-headed man gulped. '_I am _so_ not looking forward to when we leave._'

"Tamaki, stand back and do not say so much as a word unless I tell you to." Ohgi said, his voice full of a quiet authority that he seldom used.

"But-" Tamaki started to protest.

"_Now_!" Ohgi ordered, his eyes flashing dangerously. Sagging in defeat, Tamaki slumped to the back of the group, still cradling his hand.

Turning to face Zero, Ohgi bowed to him. "Zero, I apologise for the actions of Tamaki. They were uncalled for."

Zero shook his head. "Tamaki clearly acted without your approval and consent. It would be foolish to blame you for his foolhardy behaviour."

Ohgi stood up straight. "Thank you for your understanding."

Zero waved a gloved hand in dismissal. "It's of no concern. Shall we get down to business now?"

Ohgi nodded. "Yes, that would be a good idea."

Zero spread his arms, indicating both the Britannian side and the Japanese side. "Tell me….are you all aware of the difference between Britannians and Japanese? The Settlement and the Ghetto…can you fully grasp the two?"

"Is this guy for real?" Sugiyama muttered incredulously.

"We are." Ohgi replied, "The gulf between us and them is vast. It is why we resist them."

"No." Zero said, letting his arms fall to his side and be covered by his cloak again, "Britannia will not fall to terrorism."

Ohgi looked stunned. "_Fall_?"

"I told you, we are the _Resistance_, not _terrorists_!" Kallen railed at Zero.

"Indeed you did." Zero replied to Kallen courteously, "But, no offence intended, stealing poison gas is most _definitely_ a terrorist act. Not only for the moral reasons, but for the fact that _anyone_ having possession of poison gas is in violation of international law, a law that even _Britannia_ hasn't dared to break."

"We didn't know that it was poison gas until the day before the raid." Kallen protested.

"You should have confirmed what it was _before_ you laid any plans to steal anything." Zero reprimanded her. "As it is, I was fortunate to come across the van with the gas canister. I disposed of it."

"WHAT!?" The entire group yelped, including Tamaki.

"It had to be done." Zero stated implacably. "What would have happened if a stray round pierced the capsule and released the gas?"

Kallen froze, the blood draining from her face. "Shinjuku would have become a _necropolis_." She whispered in horror at the revelation.

"Precisely." Zero nodded at Kallen. "I got one of my…associates…to remove the truck from immediate sight and then removed it full after the battle."

"Wait, what happened to Nagata?" Kallen asked, somewhat recovered from her shock.

"The man in the cab?" Zero queried. When Kallen nodded, Zero withdrew a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Ohgi. "This paper has the location of an unmarked grave….the last resting place of your friend."

The members of the Resistance Cell looked stricken at this news. "How'd he die?" Inoue asked.

"The cab exploded." Zero replied.

"He must have been discovered by Britannian soldiers." Yoshida opined.

"By members of Clovis' Royal Guard no less." Zero informed them, "They were taken by surprise and all perished in the blast."

"Well, at least he took some of the bastards with him when he went." Ohgi sighed, "he would have been happy with that."

"Anyway," Zero said, "Terrorism is little better than childish nuisance to Britannia. Know your enemy. It is not people, but Britannia itself! If war you must wage, wage it not on the innocent!"

"That's easy to say, but hard to act out in reality." Inoue pointed out, her eyes flashing with restrained anger.

"Yeah! Why should we trust you? Behind that mask you could be anybody" Tamaki sneered, only to flinch back as he became on the receiving end of the glares of both Kallen and Ohgi.

"While I again apologise for Tamaki speaking out of turn, I am forced to admit that he has a point." Ohgi said reluctantly. "Will you remove your mask?"

Zero raised a hand and touched his mask. "Very well…I shall show you."

The Resistance fighters looked surprised.

"But rather than my face, I will show you my power." Zero continued, "Tomorrow, Suzaku Kururugi is being transported amid much hullabaloo and fanfare to his trial. If I can accomplish that which you believe impossible, will I have earned your trust?"

Ohgi and Kallen looked taken aback. "Are you crazy?" Kallen asked, "The Purebloods will be there in force! The acting-Viceroy could be there for all you know!"

"I'm quite certain people will call me crazy." Zero replied with a small shrug, "But will you trust me if I effect the freedom of Suzaku Kururugi? I require an answer."

Ohgi looked at the rest of his group to gauge their opinions, then turned back to Zero and nodded. "Should you get Kururugi out of the hands of the Britannians without innocent casualties, we will trust you." He told the masked man.

"Excellent." the masked man almost purred as the train came to a halt at a station. "I believe that this is your stop, but I require Ohgi and Ms Kōzuki to remain behind momentarily."

The rest of the group grumbled at this but left at a walk, occasionally looking over their shoulders at Zero and their two leaders.

"What did you need to discuss with us?" Kallen asked, suspicion in her voice.

"Naoto Kōzuki." Zero replied, causing Ohgi and Kallen to jerk slightly in surprise.

"Naoto? But he's…." Ohgi trailed off.

"Yes, he is dead." Zero said softly, "But I began investigating his ultimate fate once Ms Kōzuki here told me Clovis had, and I quote 'ordered his death and disposed of his body as if it were trash.'"

Kallen froze. "W-What did you find out?"

Zero took something out of his pocket and passed it to Kallen. It was a small data card, no bigger than Ohgi's thumb. The redheaded young woman raised a shaky eyebrow at Zero.

"That data card contains details on your brother's…_interrogation_…and the location of his body as of yesterday." Zero told her, "It is due to be shipped back to the Britannian Homeland in a weeks time, at the bequest of your father, Earl Stadtfelt. I would advise that you not watch the interrogation."

"I-But, _How_ did you get this?" Kallen sputtered, "And how did my father find out about Onii-sama's death?"

"To answer your second question first, I believe your father was aware of the activities of both yourself and your brother and had placed or bought people in key positions to inform him if one or both of you were captured." Zero told a startled Kallen and Ohgi. "Unfortunately, he was not informed of your brother's capture until after his death, so there was little he could do but demand his son's body be returned to him for burial."

"I…see." Ohgi said softly. "Come to think of it, Naoto did say he was sure that the Earl knew he was involved in the Resistance. He didn't say how he knew though."

"It is up to you what you do with the information I have given you, but I again stress that you shouldn't watch the interrogation. Believe me, watching a family member die is agonising to have to endure." Zero said sadly. Kallen felt a lump in her throat as she somehow sensed he had been forced to do so in his past.

"Who?" she asked softly. Zero seemed to regard her for a moment before he answered.

"My mother. She was gunned down from behind." He replied so quietly she could barely hear him.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"Thank you. I must be going now. If any of you wish to help me with my plan, please contact me before midnight tonight." Zero said as he walked off, his cape billowing behind him until he was swallowed by the shadows and could be seen no more.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Next Chapter: Zero Debut**

**Author's Note: AAAND that's a wrap. Whew! This is my longest Chapter to date and it's got me concerned I put too much into it. Reviews please!**

**On a lighter note, the poll is closed and the winner, by a grand total of 97 votes, is Zero no Tsukaima (Familiar of Zero): Saito the Onmyoji. I thank everyone who voted and now pose an additional question for you all.**

**I currently have the first chapter of ZnT:SO written up. Do you want me to upload it or should I wait until I have finished The Prepared Rebellion before I do?**

**See you on the 30****th****!**


	12. Interlude: Sayoko and CC

**Disclaimer: Code Geass and all it entails are not mine. I only claim ownership of any OC's and Original Knightmares.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Interlude: Sayoko and C.C.**

**Living Room, Ashford Academy Student Council Clubhouse**

Sayoko Shinozaki was uncharacteristically nervous. Her Goshujin-sama had gone off to a meeting with an angry and fearful Milly Ashford, leaving her alone with the green haired immortal woman C.C., who had requested that Sayoko remain for a 'discussion' as she had put it.

The maid regarded the immortal woman warily. C.C. was lying on the sofa on her back and wore a look of vast amusement that told Sayoko that she at least suspected (and very probably knew _precisely_) how and what she was feeling at the moment.

'_Well, she _does _have over seven hundred years-worth of practice at reading people,_' Sayoko thought dryly, '_So it wouldn't really surprise me if I am as open as a book to her. Slightly irritated, perhaps, but not surprised._'

Her attention was returned to the immortal as she languidly sat up and stretched, reminding Sayoko of a cat just after its nap. C.C. was dressed in one of Lelouch's shirts and a pair of frilly panties, which caused Sayoko to frown. Hadn't the immortal ordered any clothes yet? She had certainly been flicking through the catalogues with considerable interest over the last couple of days.

The green haired immortal finished stretching and regarded Sayoko with an indolent expression on her face.

"I'm certain that you are perturbed right now, correct?" C.C. said with a hint of a smile in her voice. Sayoko nodded in acknowledgement, not trusting her voice. C.C. gave a tiny grin before she continued.

"There is something that I neglected to mention to both Lelouch and yourself regarding my Code."

Sayoko stiffened slightly. '_Something she '_neglected_' to mention? By the sounds of it, it's something she omitted deliberately. But what could it be? And why mention it to me when Lelouch-sama isn't around?_'

C.C. had been watching Sayoko closely as she had spoken and had noticed her change in posture. Smirking to herself she dropped the bombshell she had been saving since the first night she and Lelouch had become lovers.

"You see, my Code allows me to track the locations of any and all of the people who are contracted to me, with 100% accuracy." C.C. said conversationally, watching as horror and acute embarrassment marched across the maid's face.

"Imaging my surprise when I find not one, but _two_ contractors near me the last two nights." The green haired woman spoke as if she was only thinking aloud, ignoring the steadily reddening face of the maid standing next to her.

"Is there something you would like to discuss with me, Lady C.C., or are you just content to mock me?" Sayoko spat out between clenched teeth.

C.C. raised an eyebrow.

"I'm merely pointing out that I know that you have been…_eavesdropping_…on Lelouch and me. I would like to know the reason for it." C.C. said, all signs of teasing gone from both her face and her voice.

Sayoko spluttered out a babble of words that made no sense as her already red face darkens even further, which causes the green haired immortal to throw her head back and give a throaty laugh.

"Pfft…..ahahahahahaha!" the current bane of Sayoko's life was holding her ribs as she laughed. Evidently, she had developed a stitch. "The expression on your face! Ahahaha…Ow, my ribs."

Beet red, Sayoko rebuilds her usual 'imperturbable' mask as the immortal recovers from her fit of laughter.

"Oh my. I haven't laughed like that in decades." C.C. remarks once she has recovered enough to talk.. She notices the slight look of anger in Sayoko's eyes and snorts. "Oh, don't give me that look. I am perfectly within my rights to ask someone why they are stalking me and my lover every time we make love."

Sayoko winces at this absolutely true statement.

C.C. evidently took pity on the maid as her next words were supposed to be comforting.

"Look, I _know_."

"Huh?" Sayoko answered, baffled.

"I know that you have feelings for Lelouch." C.C. replied simply.

Sayoko just stared at C.C. uncomprehendingly for a moment before her blush returned full force, making her face once again resembles a tomato.

"I…that is…how?" Sayoko stuttered.

"Whenever I make a contract with someone, I gain a general impression of who they are. It is slightly unreliable as it is all condensed into a single burst and can be nigh impossible to decrypt. In your 'burst', one impression stood out among all other things: a crush on your master." C.C. explained matter-of-factly.

Sayoko slumped slightly. "Does this make me in breach of contract?" she asked, half-jokingly.

"That depends." C.C. said thoughtfully. "The precise wording of the contract was that you would not interfere with my relationship with Lelouch. Did you have any intention of interfering?"

"No." Sayoko said firmly.

"In which case, we're good." the immortal said with a shrug.

Silence reigned between the two women for a moment before Sayoko broke it.

"The first night, I had just finished putting Lady Nunnally to bed when I heard a noise." Sayoko shifted uncomfortably as she spoke. "I arrived outside Lelouch-sama's room just as you two, ah, _finished_. I was stunned that things had developed between you two so quickly."

"A delayed psychological reaction to the stress of combat resulting in physical comfort and intimacy." C.C. recited. She noticed a raised eyebrow on Sayoko and said, "What? Because I'm 700 years old, I can't read?"

Shaking her head, Sayoko continued. "Anyway, after you both dropped off to sleep, I gathered my thoughts for a while before I went off to bed."

C.C raised a single elegant brow. "And last night?" she enquired archly.

Sayoko sighed. "I was jealous, alright? There, I've said it. Are you _happy_?"

"Yes." C.C. said simply, "But you aren't."

"Thank you for that observation." Sayoko replied sarcastically.

The immortal chuckled. "You know, you don't need to be jealous."

"Oh, _do_ tell." Sayoko snarked. Having confessed her denied feelings, she was in a less than amused frame of mind.

"As you wish." C.C. said with a small smirk, "it's quite simple really. You can just move _your_ relationship with Lelouch to the next level."

Sayoko just looked at her for a moment before asking in a quiet voice, "Are you mocking me?"

"Not at all."

"Lelouch-sama is sleeping with you. I doubt that he would 'betray' you for another woman." Sayoko spoke with pride about her master's fidelity, although there was an edge of sorrow in her voice as she did so.

"Girl, don't play coy with me." C.C. snapped at Sayoko, "you swore an oath that is fairly familiar to me. I was in Japan three-hundred years ago and encountered _Shinobi_. I learned a lot while I was here, among them the duties of a _Kunoichi_ who swears herself to a master using that _particular_ oath."

Sayoko flushed scarlet at the mention of the word 'duties' but still found the composure to say, "Lelouch-sama would dismiss that particular part of the oath in an instant if he believed it was coercing my behaviour."

"True." C.C. conceded, "but you cannot tell me that you don't wish for this. I have been in your mind, so I can see past your self-deceit and hesitation."

Sayoko could say nothing in rebuttal.

"Look, just give it some thought." C.C. said kindly, evidently deciding that she had made her point, "I will work on Lelouch as well. I just want you to keep your mind open to the possibilities. Unlike me, you will only live for barely a hundred years. That's too short a time to wonder about maybe's and what-if's. _Live_, Girl. I have seen people like you far too often through the years, sacrificing your own happiness for the sake of others."

With that, C.C. got up and walked out of the room, leaving a thoroughly confused and bemused maid in her wake.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Authors Note: Sorry for being a day late. I had a serious case of writers block with this chapter.**


	13. Zero Debut

**Authors Note: Yo. I take it that some of my readers are slightly irked at me for only uploading an interlude chapter rather than a full one without prior notice. I am sorry about that. Next time, I will let you know in advance.**

**Moving on, some of you might have noticed I have started two new stories. Please read and review them. And by 'Review' I would like something a wee bit more substantial than 'It's cool'. I like reading any reviews of course, but constructive criticism is always appreciated.**

**ON to the fic!**

**Disclaimer: Code Geass is not mine. If you have not grasped that fact by now, I am stumped as to how I can make it clearer.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 9: Zero Debut**

**Junkyard, Old Tokyo, 12:00 am**

**With Kallen**

Kallen walked forward cautiously, Kaname Ohgi at her flank. She kept a wary eye on the surroundings as they advanced. Part of her was confused. Why would Zero arrange a meeting in a _junkyard_ of all places? Another, larger, part of her was excited. Zero was going to save an innocent man, without any civilian casualties, or so he claimed.

'_How can he do it?_' Kallen wondered as she negotiated a path between piles of rusting junk, '_The amount of security that will be around Kururugi will be impossible to breach. Even if it were possible to get to the prisoner, the collateral damage would be significant. Not even Todoh the Miracle-Bringer could do this._'

'_But neither could he win a battle in Shinjuku against a battalion of Knightmares or follow that victory up with killing the murdering bastard who orchestrated the entire debacle._' a part of her whispered seductively, '_Todoh couldn't have done it; Zero _did_. Todoh didn't give you a chance to bury Onii-sama according to his wishes; Zero _did_. What if he can do this?_'

'_Shut it!_' Kallen told the traitorous hopeful part of her.

"Thank you for coming." A familiar voice said from her left.

Kallen spun around to face the masked form of Zero standing atop a small pile of junk. Beside her, Ohgi removed his hand from the small of his back, where Kallen knew he had a compact pistol concealed.

"Zero." Kallen said evenly, attempting to keep her irritation at being snuck up on to a minimum, ignoring the fact she had been so deep in thought that she hadn't seen Zero standing in plain sight.

Zero nodded cordially back at her and at Ohgi before he looked around for moment.

"I see." Zero said softly, "Just the two of you?" There was no surprise in his voice at this turn of events.

Kallen grimaced. Only Ohgi and herself had been willing to aid Zero, the rest were either too sceptical about the likelihood of success or were sulking after being shouted at for two hours straight (Tamaki).

"I'm sorry." Ohgi said, "If you give us a little more time-"

"No." Zero interrupted coolly, "Just the two of you will be fine."

Both of the Japanese gazes in astonishment at the masked man. Three people to rescue a prisoner under heavy guard?

"That's crazy!" Kallen exclaimed, "You can't seriously think three people can do this, there'll be too many of them!"

"With the two of you here, the task at hand will easily be cleared." Zero rebuked, "Besides, you presume that I don't have people of my own."

"You do?" Kallen asked.

Zero nodded. "They wont be showing themselves until I prove myself to your group, but they will be standing ready to extract us if things go wrong."

"I thought you said we could do this?" Ohgi questioned.

"It is a foolish strategist who does not plan for the possibility of failure, Ohgi." Zero reassured him, "Yes I believe that we can and will succeed, but there is no harm in preparing for the remote chance that the plan fails."

Kallen frowned as she thought about it, and then nodded. "He has a point Ohgi. Look what happened when _we_ didn't have a backup plan."

Ohgi reluctantly nodded. Kallen could tell he didn't like the thought of such a situation happening that they would require a backup plan, but she could also tell that he was willing to go along with the idea.

"Excellent." Zero said, approval in his voice, "If you two will follow me I shall explain the plan to you both."

Turning on his heel, Zero strode off confidently, Kallen and Ohgi trailing in his wake.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Cellblock, Pureblood Main Base, Britannian Tokyo Settlement, same time**

**With Suzaku**

Suzaku Kururugi sat on the floor of his cell, gazing sightlessly at the floor. He was having a very bad week, although it hadn't started that way.

He had been selected among other Elevens to search for the stolen poison gas canister. They had been told that should they successfully complete the mission, they would get elevated to the next rank and may even be allowed to carry pistols, a privilege normally reserved for Numbers who had been enlisted for over a decade.

Suzaku had found the gas canister all right. Along with a face, he hadn't seen in seven long years: Lelouch vi Britannia. The reunion had been cut short by the Royal Guard shooting Suzaku in the back. He had been lucky enough to be found by Earl Asplund and Ms. Croomey, otherwise he might have been shot by his own countrymen if they had found him.

Then, completely unexpectedly, he had been offered the chance to pilot the only Seventh Generation Knightmare frame in existence. Suzaku sighed, remembering how the Lancelot had handled, almost like an extension of himself. The only downside had been the violent movements aggravated his bruised ribs something cruel.

Suzaku frowned. The next part was definitely not a happy occurrence. He had been ambushed and almost killed by the Terrorists and their stolen Knightmares (especially those thrice-be-damned Chaos Mines!), swiftly followed by being led into an intricate trap that had culminated in half of Old Tokyo City Hall being dropped on him.

He had escaped narrowly and had made his way through the labyrinthine passages beneath Shinjuku, with only forty-five minutes of power left. He had just barely made it back to the Britannian HQ when the power failed.

Lloyd had been pleased with the data he had collected. Cecile Croomey told Suzaku later that the average Knightmare pilot could barely get the Lancelot to move and only had a sync ratio of about 40% at best, whereas he had made almost full use of the Frame's abilities and had a sync ratio of _94%_, which was previously unheard of.

The next day, he had helped buff out the scrapes in the Lancelot that had been happened during the incident Suzaku had termed in his mind as the 'mess with Suzaku's mind' plan the previous day, as well as advising Lloyd on the alterations he wanted to make to the Blaze Luminous.

The day after that had been the worst. He had been in the middle of a shower when a member of the Purebloods had stormed in, dragged him out and arrested him for the murder of Prince Clovis. The Pureblood, a Kewell Soresi, also interrogated him and made it blatantly obvious that Suzaku was the prime and in fact _only_ suspect in his investigation.

After Kewell had gotten tired of hearing Suzaku repeat, 'I didn't do it' for the nth time, he ordered Suzaku tossed into a cell until his court appearance.

Suzaku was drawn out of the spiralling pit of misery he was in by a thud outside the reinforced bulletproof glass that was the door to his cell. He looked up to see the grinning face of Earl Lloyd Asplund sitting on a campstool.

"Well _hello_ there Private Kururugi!" Lloyd greeted him boisterously, "How do you like your accommodations?"

"They…_could_ use some improvement….like furniture….wallpaper…a carpet…you know, just a few little things." Suzaku replied dryly.

"Good to see they haven't ruined your sense of humour." Lloyd grinned back at Suzaku, "I did a little digging since our last meeting. The two you mentioned weren't anywhere in the casualty reports."

Suzaku sagged in relief. "That's good. Thanks Lloyd."

"Unfortunately, there's not a lot of good luck on your end though." Lloyd said his grin fading. "You may be getting a trial, but it's a trial in name only."

"But the courts are where the truth comes to light!" Suzaku protested, "They _have_ to be fair…it's the Law!"

"I suspect that rather than light, smoke and mirrors will be the prevailing attitude in the courthouse." Lloyd said with a sardonic grin, "The truth is a scarce commodity these days, I'm afraid."

Suzaku looked Lloyd square in the eye. "If that's how the world works, then so be it. I have no regrets. Even if they sentence me to death, _I_ will know the truth at the very least, and that's good enough for me."

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip-The Next Day**

**Hi-TV Media Mobile Control Van, Britannian Tokyo Settlement, 18:00**

Diethard Ried was disgusted.

With what you might ask? The answer was simple: he was, once again, in charge of a media dog-and-pony show, as he had been for most of his career.

He had graduated from the Imperial Britannia Central University's Faculty of Law at twenty-one and had joined Hi-TV after being rejected from a prominent law firm in the Homeland. He had steadily risen in the ranks until he attained the position of producer.

Up until then he had been somewhat aware that a significant amount of the broadcasts made by Hi-TV were propaganda-oriented and had tried to have minimal involvement with them as much as possible. When he became a producer, he discovered that he had been wrong.

_All_ of Hi-TV's broadcasts were either blatantly propaganda oriented or subtle brainwashing, all directed towards reinforcing the opinion that Britannians were superior to all other races, cultures and countries.

This had been especially true in Area 11, which baffled Diethard. The Nobles in Area 11 were idiots and the overall Britannian population were easily led sheep overall. The native Eleven population was downtrodden, ignored and taken advantage of. A more sensible approach, in Diethard's opinion, would have been an educational approach, teaching the Elevens that Britannians were their rightful rulers from the cradle onwards.

But nobody had asked him and so here they were, short one Third Prince Clovis, and his 'assassin', one Suzaku Kururugi, was being escorted amid a media bloodfest to his 'trial', which would be little more than a kangaroo court designed to take full advantage of Kururugi's status as a former-Eleven to vilify and demonise any Honorary Britannians in Area 11 AND give the Purebloods the opportunity to 'temporarily' revoke the Honorary Britannian system, thus making their mark on the governance of Area 11.

'_I hate my job._' Diethard grumbled to himself as he directed the camera crews for the 'grand event' that was due to start in half an hour.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Vehicle Bay, Pureblood Main Base, Britannian Tokyo Settlement, 18:25**

**With Suzaku**

Two faceless Footsoldiers were dragging across Suzaku to the mobile platform. This was humiliating enough, but they also kept accidentally on purpose dropping him to the floor every so often, which got sore after a while.

Standing atop the mobile platform was a smirking Kewell Soresi. The ginger-haired Pureblood waited until the two grunts secured Suzaku to the platform with extra bindings before securing a shock collar around Suzaku's throat. It would activate if Suzaku tried to speak or so Kewell said. Suzaku saw the gloating in his eyes and heard it in his voice, so sensibly decided not to test the device.

The two guards took station on either side of him and levelled their rifles at his head. They had orders to blow his head off if he so much as twitched.

Eyes downcast, Suzaku prepared to face the court that would seal his fate.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**En-Route to the Courthouse, 18:40**

Kewell Soresi was very pleased with himself. He was going to be the one who brought the assassin of a Prince of the Realm to justice. The accolades from this little publicity coup would be useful in ousting Jeremiah as the leader of the Purebloods.

The ginger haired man snickered to himself. He had ridden Jeremiah's coattails for long enough; now was the time for Kewell Soresi to step out of the shadow of his 'friend' and take the glory he had too long denied himself.

He was currently standing out of his Sutherland's cockpit, pistol drawn as the small convoy made its way along the road to the military courthouse.

The convoy, consisting of four Sutherlands, including his own, and the mobile platform that the prisoner Suzaku Kururugi was secured to, was moving at a steady, unhurried pace, to give the handpicked crowds of suitably 'loyal and enraged' citizens a chance to cast their rage verbally at the prisoner before he was found guilty and executed.

In addition to the convoy's Knightmares and the Sutherlands spaced along the route to the Courthouse, four VTOLs carrying additional Sutherlands were hovering nearby, ready to deploy at a signal from Kewell. Not that anyone could -or even would- interfere with this. Kururugi was an Honorary Britannian. He was disdained by both his own countrymen and his masters. Neither side would raise so much as a finger to aid him.

To Kewell's mind, Suzaku Kururugi was as good as dead.

"_Commander Kewell._" his radio crackled all of a sudden. Frowning at this unexpected interruption to his mental gloating, he pressed the button on his earpiece headset.

"Yes? What is it?" he demanded shortly.

"_It's….well….Its Prince Clovis' car, sir. It's approaching the front of the convoy._" The soldier on the other end stammered out at length.

"Say what?" Kewell asked, baffled. Prince Clovis' car had been locked in its parking bay in the Area 11 Administrative Building since before the Shinjuku Debacle. How could it be here?

Kewell's expression cleared after he thought about it for a moment. '_Ah yes. In the briefing, Jeremiah did mention that there was the likelihood of an incident happening today to do with terrorists. If memory serves he recommended neutralising the threat before they show up on camera._' Kewell thought for a moment then gave a sadistic grin, '_But where's the fun in that?_'

"All forces HALT!" Kewell called, raising his arm as he did so.

The gathered crowd muttered restlessly as the convoy ground to a halt all of a sudden. Why was the convoy stopping? Was there a machine problem?

The approaching car answered their questions.

Prince Clovis had commissioned his personal transport from a private company that catered to Royals, Nobles and the well-off merchants. It was unique and drew attention wherever it went due to its unique shape and finely decorated body. It was designed to function as either a luxury limousine for the prince and his close compatriots (read: beautiful women) or as a mobile platform so the prince could stand and wave to his adoring public.

The car that was approaching the convoy was, to all appearances, Prince Clovis' transport, pure white with gold trimming and the proud flag of Britannia covering the entrance to the interior.

The car stopped a few hundred paces from the lead Sutherland, which just so happened to be Kewell's machine.

"**You dare defile His Highnesses transport?!**" Kewell yelled over his Sutherlands loudspeaker, "**Come out of there at once!**"

{FWOOSH!}

In a burst of fire, the flag of Britannia burned away and revealed a solitary figure standing atop the fake transport. The figure could be tentatively identified as male, but even that was uncertain due to the gold-trimmed black cloak he was wrapped in. Concealing his face was a featureless, pointed black mask with a violet circle in the centre. Grasped in a gloved hand was a sheathed Japanese sword.

Kewell was momentarily taken aback. This…person…was visually very intimidating, what with the lack of facial features to read and the cloak concealing most his body language. Then the figure spoke over what must be concealed loudspeakers, because his voice resonated across the entire concourse.

"**I am….Zero.**"

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Lelouch's Perspective**

"**I am…Zero.**" Lelouch declared, his voice carrying to every member of the gathered crowd.

'_Keep calm._' Lelouch told himself forcefully, '_The die is cast; let it fall as it wills._'

To calm himself, he felt the weight of the sword he held in his hand and remembered how he had been given it.

_{Flashback}_

_10 Hours previously._

_Lelouch removed his mask and shook his head slightly. The combined efforts of Kallen and Ohgi had taken just over six hours to convert an old beater of a truck into a fairly good replica of Clovis' 'pimpmobile' as Kallen had called it when she saw a picture of it, as well as rig various mechanisms for effect, such as the flag burning device and the capsule release mechanism. The two Japanese Resistance Fighters were taking a well-earned break and were fast asleep when he left them in the junkyard's night watchman shack._

_He was currently in the supervisor's office with the door locked, the curtains drawn and the surveillance systems deactivated. Sitting down on the desk chair, Lelouch closed his eyes and ran through the possible outcomes for his plan once again. There could be no errors in his plan in order for it to succeed._

"_Tea, Goshujin-sama?" a familiar voice asked from right in front of him. Lelouch's eyes shot open to see Sayoko Shinozaki offering him a cup of tea in one hand, with a plate of biscuits in the other._

_He regarded his maid for a moment, his face completely deadpan, before he spoke._

"_Sayoko, what are you _doing_ here?" His voice was more resigned than anything else._

_Sayoko gave him a small smile in return. She was dressed in a black outfit that was a dead ringer for what the pre-invasion movie industry had depicted a ninja outfit to look like. The only things that detracted the authenticity from that image were the victuals in her hands and the matt-black backpack on her back._

"_I am fulfilling my oath to you, Lelouch-sama." the brown haired maid replied, mirth dancing in her eyes. She loved sneaking up on Lelouch, appearing out of nowhere and acting like nothing odd had happened._

_Sighing in resignation, Lelouch took the cup and plate from her and proceeded to devour the food and drink with an alacrity that surprised him. He must have been hungrier than he thought._

_Once he had finished, Sayoko reached into the backpack and withdrew a kodachi from it. As soon as he saw the weapon, Lelouch's eyes were unable to look away. It was a beautiful weapon._

_The Tsuka (handle) was tightly wrapped in a black Tsuka-Ito (Handle binding) that seemed to drink in and absorb the light. The Tsukagarashira (pommel) was a snarling golden dragon. The Tsuba (guard) was square, and had small carvings of…leaves…carved into it. The Saya (sheath) was the same black colour as the Tsuka's binding and was fairly plain._

_Wordlessly, Sayoko handed the sword to Lelouch. Reverently drawing the sword for the first time, Lelouch's eyes widened. This sword was a masterpiece. The distinctive Hamon (temper pattern) of a Japanese-forged blade rippled down the length of the sword's razor-sharp edge, what Westerners called 'Damascus Steel'._

_Just above the Habaki (piece of metal that holds the Tsuba to the Tsuka) was a maker's mark. One that made Lelouch's jaw drop when he recognised it._

"_A Masamune blade?!" Lelouch exclaimed in shock. Sayoko nodded once in affirmation._

"_My ancestor, the founder of the Shinozaki School, was a shinobi of the Iga Clan." Sayoko told him, "He was a prodigy with his fists and a blade. There was no one, Samurai or Shinobi, who could challenge him and hope to win."_

_The maid paused and then Sayoko's voice hardened when she next spoke._

"_Jealous of his talent, a group of his peers banded together and attempted to kill him. He fought valiantly, but was overwhelmed by sheer numbers and his sword broke in half."_

_Lelouch frowned at the story but let her continue._

"_Left for dead, my ancestor was discovered by Masamune-shi and was nursed back to health by him. Masamune-shi then took the remains of my ancestor's sword and reforged it into the blade you now hold in your hands. Once my ancestor slew the ones who had attempted to slay him, as a gesture of gratitude to the man who saved him, he swore an oath to Masamune-shi that he and his decedents would only use the sword in the defence of his loved ones or his masters. That oath has been sworn by every person to inherit the title of Successor in my family." Sayoko finished her tale, her voice soft._

_Lelouch was silent for a moment before he spoke._

"_What is the sword called?"_

_Sayoko smiled again. "The sword is a Meito (Famous Named Sword) and has been given many nicknames over the years. __Kokushibyō (Black Death), Eiyū no Hokori (Hero's Pride) and Senkensha-ō (Seer King) among them. Its true name however is a reflection of how Masamune-shi found my ancestor. He was travelling to Edo from Nagoya when a fierce autumn storm forced him to seek shelter in a cave from the falling rain, where he discovered my ancestor. Thus he named the sword Shūrin (Autumn Rain)."_

_Lelouch blinked. "I can understand the first two nicknames, but Seer King?"_

"_The sword sometimes seems to move of its own volition to block blows that its wielder couldn't possible see coming. Assassins hated the sword because it was nigh impossible to kill the wielder, so rumours started circulating that the sword was sentient or that it granted its wielder precognition." Sayoko explained._

"_I see." Lelouch said as he re-sheathed the sword and made to pass it back to Sayoko, who shook her head._

"_I am giving this sword to you, Lelouch-sama as a symbol of my oath to you." Sayoko gave him a sheepish smile, "By all rights, the oath I gave you wasn't in full force until I gave you __Shūrin. And if you try to give me it back, it will dissolve the oath." She added quickly._

_Lelouch gave her an exasperated look, which she returned with a bland and innocent expression._

"_OK, fine, I'll keep it." he said resignedly. A small smile made its way across his face._

"_Arigato, Goshujin-sama." Sayoko replied with a bow and faded into the shadows._

_{Flashback End}_

'_Now to return the favour, Suzaku._' Lelouch thought as his hand tightened on Shūrin's sheath slightly.

**General POV**

Across all of Area 11 (or Japan, depending on who you asked) people were talking to each other confused. Zero? He calls himself nothing? What's with that?

Diethard Ried was equally puzzled, but mentally applauded the masked man for his choice in pseudonyms. It drew attention, confused those who heard it for the first time and gave away nothing about the person behind the mask. In short, a perfect name for a terrorist.

The members of Kallen's Resistance Cell were asking each other if Zero had a death wish, going against a full military convoy in an unarmed car and revealing himself to aforementioned convoy on top of that!

**Back to Lelouch**

Kallen was terrified. Lelouch could hear her rapid breathing from where he stood. He silently willed her to keep calm and not do anything rash. He would have preferred her to be the one manning the civilian Knightmare he had 'acquired' rather than Ohgi, due to her greater skill.

Unfortunately, Clovis had always had female chauffeurs drive his personal transport (Kallen had muttered angrily about sexist pigs after hearing _that_ titbit of information) and thus, Kallen had to drive the car.

In front of him, Lelouch could see Kewell recover from his surprise and sneer at him.

"I've seen enough, _Zero_. This little show you have put on is now over!" the arrogant man said as he fired a single shot from his pistol.

Almost as one, the four Sutherlands held as a reaction force dropped to the ground around the fake car, weapons levelled at Zero.

"Before I have my men deal with you, remove your mask!" Kewell ordered as he pointed his pistol at Lelouch.

Lelouch raised his free hand to graze the surface of his mask with his gloved fingertips before he abruptly raised his hand above his head and clicked his fingers.

Evidently Kallen had kept her head, as the false back of the car falls apart as she pulls the correct lever to reveal the bulb-like 'poison gas canister' from Shinjuku.

Immediately the crowd starts muttering to each other, wondering what the odd-looking device could be. Kewell, on the other hand was gaping in horror, his pistol hanging at his side uselessly.

'_The poison gas?! Dammit all!_'Kewell thought as he suffered a mild panic attack, '_He's just taken every Britannian here hostage, and they are totally unaware of it! I can't even warn them because it would cause a mass panic. Zero might even release the gas if I say a word about it!_'

Lelouch smirked beneath his mask at Kewell's expression. By the looks of things, his plan is going well so far.

"Bastard!" Kewell snarled as he brought his pistol up and pointed it at the masked man who was humiliating him on live television.

"Ah-ah-ah, Kewell." Zero admonished him waving a fingertip as if admonishing a child, "You know perfectly well what the device behind me is. It would be most…_unfortunate_ if you missed me and hit it. Don't you agree?"

Kewell gritted his teeth as he reluctantly lowered his weapon. The masked man was correct; he could not put the lives of all the gathered Britannians at risk.

Especially since that included his own life!

Suzaku tried to tell them that the capsule wasn't a gas capsule, but got shocked by the electric choke collar.

"Fine then, _terrorist_. Your demands?" Kewell spat out, angry at himself for being forced to negotiate with terrorist scum.

Meanwhile, Diethard was having a hard time getting his camera crews to obey him. They simply would _not_ go near the man calling himself Zero. Therefore, with a disdainful mutter of "_Amateurs!_" Diethard grabbed a spare camera he kept nearby and ran out to focus on Zero in time for his demand.

"An exchange. This device, which you Britannians have been looking for with ever increasing panic for four days, in exchange for Kururugi." Zero declared with a sweeping gesture that took in the bound Suzaku and the device behind him.

"Impossible! I can't do that!" Kewell barked at once, "He's charged with High Treason for killing a Britannian Prince! I cannot just hand him over!"

"Wrong, Kewell." Zero replied, his voice somehow becoming more sinister as he talked, "That young man is no murderer."

Turning his head, Zero looked straight into the lens of Diethard Ried's camera.

"The one who killed Clovis…was none other than myself!" Zero declared with relish, whilst behind the mask Lelouch was silently apologising to C.C. for claiming her kill.

'_I am _so_ not getting any sleep tonight…_' He thought ruefully.

"For saving scores of Britannians, all I ask for is a single 'Eleven' in return." he continued, "I for one find that to be a bargain!"

Diethard meanwhile had a crazed smile bloom across his face. "_This whole thing is a performance for him! Amazing….now THIS is news-worthy material!_'

Kewell, on the other hand, was absolutely livid. He was in fact so angry that he wasn't thinking clearly.

"Blasphemy! He's mad!" Kewell raged at Zero, "How dare you make this piece of junk up to look like His Highness' transport! You will now pay the price for mocking the crown!"

At his words, the Sutherlands levelled their rifles at various points on Zero's body.

"Hold it Kewell!" Zero barked, his voice one of command, "You don't want the public to learn of the Orange Initiative do you?"

"Huh?" was the intelligent reply given by Kewell, his face twisted in confusion.

Tapping his foot on the metal deck he stood on, Zero continued to talk even as the car drew closer to the increasingly baffled Britannian commander.

"Yes, if anything happens to me, everything I know about the Orange Initiative will be released to the public. Not only in Britannia, but across the entire world." Zero proclaimed, "Once that is done, Clovis' name shall forever be sullied. He will be held up as one of the most _vile_ of villains in the history of Britannia. If you wish to avoid this…"

Kewell was getting angry again. He hated it when people told him things he had no frame of reference for. "What the hell are you talking about?" he demanded, his face flushing red with anger.

Lelouch activated his helmets slide system, revealing his left eye and activated his Geass.

"… {You will do everything in your power to let us and your prisoner go free!}" He commanded as he glared straight at Kewell.

The orange haired Britannian stiffened as the command took root and was implemented. He snorted dismissively as the red corona appeared in his eyes.

"Very well." These two words caused jaws on every nearby soldier. Kewell was actually going along with this? Kewell, the most stubborn, obstinate, pig-headed and arrogant officer in the Purebloods? Considering that, this was the Purebloods that was quite the accomplishment.

Turning in his seat, he barked out orders to the two soldiers to release the prisoner. Amidst general confusion and much shouting, Suzaku was released from his bonds and his restraint suit was loosened so he could walk.

Rather confused, Suzaku was escorted to the waiting Zero by his two guards. Zero motioned at them to back off, which they did, albeit reluctantly.

"Who-gaah!" Suzaku said, the collar shocking him once again.

"As expected." Zero said softly, "You were not even going to be allowed to speak in your own defence. How Britannian."

The female driver approached Zero and said something to him in a low voice that Suzaku couldn't hear.

"Understood." Zero replied and unclipped a device from his belt.

"Until next time, Britannians!" Zero shouted as he pressed the button on the device in his hand.

Immediately, the capsule vomited out a cloud of faintly red gas that engulfed the entire area, panicking the civilians and making the soldiers curse.

When the smoke cleared, there was no sign of Zero, his accomplice or of Suzaku Kururugi.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip- 30 Minutes**

**Abandoned Theatre, Unknown area, Old Tokyo**

**Lelouch's POV**

"So Private Kururugi, how are you feeling?" Zero enquired politely. He was standing atop a pile of rubble that evidently originated from the hole in the ceiling above him. Suzaku stood at the base of the pile rubbing his neck where the shock collar once rested.

"I'm…fine." Suzaku replied tersely. The former Japanese looked at Zero through narrowed eyes and asked, "Did you really kill Prince Clovis?"

"No, it was a subordinate of mine that actually pulled the trigger." Zero admitted, "But it was done on my orders and I was present when he died, so I am ultimately responsible for his death, regardless of who the triggerman was. Besides, in a war there is nothing wrong with killing an enemy commander." Zero added the last part with a steely voice filled with determination.

"War?" Suzaku asked with disbelief, "What war? Japan was defeated in the Second Pacific War! Britannia won, we lost! Why can't you people understand that?!"

Suzaku's voice rose steadily in volume until he was shouting at Zero.

Once he stopped and took a breath, Zero interjected.

"You truly are naïve aren't you?" the masked man asked rhetorically, "True, the government fell. True, Britannia has the people trodden underfoot. But, so long as there are those who still dream of a Japan free of the rule of Britannia, Japan still lives, even if it is only in the hearts of those who dream."

Zero regarded Suzaku with a thoughtful air.

"It was for that reason that I commanded at the Battle of Shinjuku."

"What?!" Suzaku exclaimed, "YOU'RE the one who dropped a building on me?!"

"….Sorry, what?" Zero asked.

"You dropped half of Old Tokyo City Hall on my Knightmare!" Suzaku exclaimed angrily.

"You piloted that white Frame?" Zero questioned, "Who did you get permission from to…?"

"Camelot." Suzaku replied tightly, "Anyway, how could you use such reckless and dishonourable tactics? You could have killed hundreds of civilians with tactics like that!"

"'Dishonourable'?" Zero parroted, disbelievingly, "Private Kururugi, are you really a soldier?"

"Of course I am!" Suzaku replied, offended.

"Then by all means, start _acting_ _like one_!" Zero snapped back, "I don't know if anyone has let you in on the secret, but wars are almost never clean and pretty things. Look at the war seven years ago! The Britannians conducted numerous unnecessary massacres right up to the formal surrender! _That_, Private Kururugi, is who you serve. _That_ is the undeniable truth."

"If enough people try, things can change." Suzaku countered. "I plan on changing the system from within. It will be bloodless and painless."

"Fool." Zero said coldly, "I see now that you are far too much of a _**coward**_to see the truth of the world and stand up to do what _must_ be done to save lives. Go then, Kururugi. Do what you feel is right, but remember this: When your ideals betray you, when you are consumed by despair, when your life seems to hold nothing but darkness, seek me out. Seek me out and join me so we can save not only Japan, but the world."

Suzaku nodded curtly and began to stride off, only to be halted by Zero's voice.

"Before you go, indulge me. What was the name of the Knightmare Frame you were piloting?"

Suzaku seemed to have an internal debate before replying.

"The Lancelot."

"The cursed knight who was said to have been raised by the Lady of the Lake and ultimately caused the fall of Arthur's kingdom…how fitting." Zero said with a chuckle.

Scowling, Suzaku walked off towards the courthouse. He was already late for his trial as it was.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Next Chapter: The Goddess of Victory Descends.**

**Authors Note: That's that for now. If you dislike the Suzaku Rescue scene, I felt that a quick and easy escape was sufficient for my purposes and didn't need any unusual flourishes.**

**Oh, and the Honorific -shi is used when talking about a famous historical person that you respect but don't know that well.**

**See you in a couple of weeks (maybe three)**


	14. The Goddess of Victory Descends

**Author's Note: A quick recap chapter of sorts this time. Do not skip it though, else you might miss things.**

**Disclaimer: Code Geass is not mine. I claim nothing but the characters and Knightmares that I have created.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 10: The Goddess of Victory Descends.**

**The Next Day, 08:00am**

**Dining Room, Lelouch and Nunnally's Suite, Ashford Academy**

"Big Brother!" Nunnally said excitedly when Lelouch walked into the dining room for breakfast. Lelouch wished he knew how Nunnally could always tell when it was him walking into the room. It was not the way he walked or breathed, it wasn't the scent of his shampoo or deodorant. He was honestly boggled by his younger sister's ability.

Whenever he asked her, she just said, "But it's _you,_ brother. How wouldn't I know it was you?"

Lelouch shook his head and smiled at his sister. "Morning Nunnally. You seem to be in a good mood today."

Nunnally nodded enthusiastically. "I am! Because the real culprit came forward, Suzaku is likely to be found innocent on all charges. It said so on the radio."

"That's good." Lelouch said warmly, more for Nunnally's benefit than for Suzaku's benefit. He was still privately shocked at how little Suzaku had changed over the years. He was still the same naïve, impulsive and innocent person he had been when he had been ten.

Just about the only thing that _had_ changed about Suzaku was the defeatist attitude that he possessed. When had _that_ happened? When his father had been assassinated? When Lelouch and Nunnally had snuck off by themselves after the surrender?

"Brother…" Nunnally said, hesitantly. Lelouch could tell she was worried he would be upset by what she wanted to say, so was debating about whether or not to speak about it to him.

"You want to see him, don't you?" he asked gently. Nunnally started in surprise, and then nodded shyly.

"It's been so long since we've seen him." Nunnally whispered, "Please, brother?"

Lelouch winced internally at the cute face Nunnally turned on him, but hardened his heart.

"No, Nunnally." he said gently, "We have to keep our heads low. Britannians do not seek out Japanese. Britannians don't make _friends_ with the Japanese, especially Japanese who were accused of murdering a Prince, even if he was acquitted."

"But-!" Nunnally tried to protest, but Lelouch silenced her with a finger to her lips. "Nunnally, I'm not saying this to be cruel. I want to see Suzaku as well. Nevertheless, this is the way thing are. Besides, a contact of mine in the Area 11 Government has told me the name of the next Viceroy."

Nunnally looked curious. "Who is it?"

"Cornelia." Lelouch replied.

"Big Sister Cornelia?" Nunnally gasped, "She's going to be the Viceroy?"

"Yup. Cornelia's famous for taming unruly Areas like Japan, so _Father_ must finally be tired of the constant pinprick attacks of the JLF, on top of Clovis' death." Lelouch said sourly.

"What about the Sub-Viceroy?" asked Nunnally?

"Even more news for you." Lelouch said with a small smile, "The new Sub-Viceroy…is Euphy."

"Euphy? Big Sister Euphemia?" Nunnally gasped happily, "It's been so long…she hasn't been reported on the radio much at all in the last seven years. I wonder how she is."

"Knowing Cornelia, she's been dragging Euphy around with her to keep her away from court -and the men there." Lelouch said with a chuckle, remembering the furious look in Cornelia's eyes when she saw him dancing with Euphemia that first time. She had nearly strangled him before his mother had intervened. "You know how overprotective of Euphy Cornelia is."

Nunnally giggled slightly. "Yes, but you would know that better than me."

Lelouch looked at his blind sister sourly. "How did I _know_ you would bring that up? Anyway, the point is that both Cornelia and Euphy know us very well and would recognise us on sight. My contacts will give me a heads up whenever they come near the school and we'll disappear until they're gone."

"Do we have to? I miss them both." Nunnally said with a pout.

"Nunnally, we've been through this before. If our _father_ ever caught wind of our survival, we would be reduced to pawn on his chessboard again. He'd threaten you to get to me and vice versa." Lelouch said softly, "We wouldn't be able to live together and our lives would never be our own."

Nunnally slumped slightly in defeat. Lelouch reached over and stroked her hair until she recovered herself.

'_Damn it. Suzaku, you owe me one for this._' Lelouch thought as he ate his breakfast, '_I almost made Nunnally cry because of you!_'

A sudden thought struck him once he had finished and made him smile evilly. Sayoko, who was clearing the plates away, flinched when she saw the smile.

'_I feel sorry for anyone who Goshujin-sama is plotting against with that smile on his face._' she thought soberly and said a small prayer for his or her soul.

Elsewhere, Suzaku Kururugi shivered outside the courthouse after being released as a bad premonition came upon him.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip- The Evening**

**Military Aerodrome, Britannian Tokyo Settlement**

Cornelia li Britannia, Second Princess of Britannia and Chief General of the Imperial Army, strode off the plane and looked at the neatly ordered ranks of soldiers before her. They disgusted her. Why were they _here_, at the aerodrome, when they _should_ be out hunting for her younger brother's murderer?

"Sis- I mean, Viceroy, glaring at the soldiers will get you no closer to our brother's killer." a voice said from behind her. Cornelia relaxed somewhat and turned to view the concerned face of her younger sister, Euphemia li Britannia looking up at her.

Cornelia had to restrain her self from smiling. Euphy and she really were two physical opposites. Where Cornelia was regal, Euphy was elegant. Where Cornelia was imposing, Euphy was delicate. Where Cornelia was coldly beautiful, Euphy was adorably cute.

Their hair was a point of similarity, yet even there the difference was obvious. Cornelia's was dark pink and was shoulder length, whereas Euphy's hair was a lighter, brighter pink that cascaded down to the small of her back.

Personality wise, they were different as well. Euphy was kind-hearted, naïve and innocent, while her older sister maintained a cool, distance façade with everyone except those closest to her and was ruthless as they come.

Despite their many and varied differences, the li Britannia sisters were very close, even more so since their two favourite siblings' deaths united them in grief. Lelouch and Nunnally had been sent to Japan as hostages and their father had sacrificed them like pawns, as if they had not even _existed_, during the Second Pacific War seven and a half years ago.

Frightened by the possibility of their father using Euphy in such a way, Cornelia had taken Euphy with her to every posting after that, rarely letting her out of her sight.

Unfortunately, for Cornelia, Euphy was getting claustrophobic under her sister's aegis and attempted multiple times to sneak away and explore. She had tried to depart for Area 11 early 'to explore without a battalion of guards taking the fun out of it' as she had put it. Fortunately, Guilford had been on the lookout for her and had caught her just before she boarded the plane, which Cornelia knew she was still irked about.

"Yes, I suppose you're right, Euphy. " Cornelia replied to her sister's remark, "But it's just irritating to see all these soldiers here rather than flushing out that _bastard _Zero."

"The bureaucrats wanted to throw a banquet to celebrate your arrival." said a dark-skinned woman with silver hair as she walked over to the talking princesses and saluted, "Lord Jeremiah slapped them down and sent them scurrying. Welcome to Area 11, Your Highnesses."

"Sounds like Jeremiah Gottwald still remembers my dislike of pomp then." Cornelia remarked dryly, "And you are?"

"Villetta Nu, Your Highness, the Temporary Sub-Viceroy." Villetta replied, "Lord Jeremiah sent me to escort you to him. He wants to update you on the progress on the hunt for Zero."

"Excellent!" Cornelia said with a nod of approval. "It's good to see being in such a provincial Area hasn't dulled Gottwald much. Lead on."

"Of course. This way, Your Highness." Villetta said as she led them to an armoured limousine and held the door for the two princesses. Once she had gotten in after them, the limo drove off.

Seeing a questioning look on Cornelia's face, Villetta said, "Lord Jeremiah ordered me not to let the two of you out of my sight until I had you both safely inside the Viceroy's Section of the Administrative Building. Paranoia is the word of the day after Zero somehow got past an entire battalion of Knightmares, guards and security cameras to assassinate Prince Clovis."

"Naturally." Cornelia nodded, "What has Gottwald done to improve security thus far?"

"He has reinstated the normal security measures and is currently reviewing them for holes." Villetta said.

"'Reinstated'?" Euphy parroted, confused by the word. "What do you mean?"

Villetta looked slightly uncomfortable at the question. "His Highness didn't appreciate all of the intrusive measures in place to safeguard him. On his second night here after assuming his post as Viceroy, he used his Royal Privilege to have a great number of them either dismantled or greatly toned down in scale. Or so the records say."

"Idiot!" Cornelia fumed, "He was a Prince! He should have been used to such things! He grew up with them!"

"Lord Jeremiah said much the same thing. He told me that most of those measures were in place to prevent a…well….repeat of the Aries Villa Assassination." Villetta said uncomfortably.

A wan smile crossed Cornelia's face. "Yes, we certainly wouldn't want _that_." She muttered bitterly, "The fact that a lot of those measures were simple _common sense _and weren't put in place until _after_ Lady Marianne was murdered does not sit well with me."

Euphy laid a hand on her sister's shoulder and sent a fleeting look at Villetta that screamed 'change the subject!' at her.

"Oh yes." Villetta opened the briefcase on the seat next to her and pulled out a clipboard with a single sheet of paper on it. "Princess Euphemia, would you relieve me of my post as Sub-Viceroy?"

"Ah….certainly." Euphy said, taken off guard by the bizarre topic change. "How?"

Villetta handed her the clipboard and a pen. "Sign here…and here." She pointed out the relevant sections. Euphy signed in the relevant areas and handed the form back to Villetta, who signed her relevant sections as well.

"Congratulations Your Highness. You are now the official Sub-Viceroy of Area 11, with all the power, authority and mind-numbing paperwork that the position entails." Villetta said seriously.

Cornelia almost giggled when she saw the appalled look on Euphy's face. Her little sister hated paperwork as much as she did. A horrible thought struck her then.

"Why do you say that like you've been buried in it?" she asked.

"Because I have." Villetta replied frankly. "Prince Clovis had a month's worth of backlogged paperwork. I have been helping Lord Jeremiah deal with it. That was _after_ I filled out a hundred forms in triplicate to become the Temporary Sub-Viceroy's position."

"A hundred? In triplicate?" Euphy and Cornelia almost looked green at the thought.

"Don't worry, Your Highnesses. That was only because I am not a member of the high nobility, or an Imperial General, nor a member of the Imperial Family." Villetta told Euphy, "You just took my job with two signatures. Much to my relief, I assure you."

"I assume that you will be returning to the Purebloods now then?" Cornelia asked relief at not having to fill out endless swathes of paperwork showing in her voice.

"That...isn't for me to decide, Your Highness." Villetta said, now looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"Oh?" Cornelia asked.

"It's one of the things that Lord Jeremiah wishes to discuss with you, Your Highness. I can't say anything else other than I will go where ordered." Villetta replied.

Cornelia was curious now, but then the limo just pulled into the secure garage of the Area 11 Administrative Building, so she put her questions off until she met Gottwald.

As Villetta led them towards the Viceroy's Section of the building, Cornelia eyed the overly opulent interior with scant favour. Some opulence was to be expected, but this was just over the top. Persian rugs, expensive vases, carved busts of past emperors; rare paintings…the list went on. Cornelia made a mental note to have most of the overpriced odds and sods placed into storage as soon as was reasonably possible…meaning right away.

The Viceroy's Section, Cornelia was pleased to note, was also opulent, but tastefully so. The way the occasional item was placed so you could not help but notice them was how such things were supposed to be, and reminded her of the Aries Villa.

The Viceroy's Office, once Villetta had bowed them in and closed the doors behind the sisters, was slightly too large for Cornelia's taste, but she could work in it. What really drew her attention was a large family portrait on the right hand wall. It had a black haired woman in a blue dress, a black haired boy in neat clothes and a brown haired girl in a pretty dress smiling out of it.

"Lady Marianne…Lelouch…Nunnally…" Cornelia whispered at the faces that had been stolen from her seven years ago. Euphy looked sad as well.

"His Highness Prince Clovis painted that piece himself and purely from memory." Jeremiah said as he walked into the room from a side door, "I had it placed here to remind me of my greatest failure so I never repeat it. Greetings. Princess Cornelia. Princess Euphemia. It is good to see you both again."

"Margrave Gottwald." Cornelia nodded in greeting, "Clovis painted this? He was better than I remember him being."

"That's what the man in charge of His Highness' personal art gallery said." Jeremiah confirmed, "You must admit, the likeness is uncanny."

"Such gentle colours…" Euphy muttered as she walked up to the painting for a closer look.

Cornelia reluctantly turned away from the painting to look at Jeremiah. "I believe I have you to thank for not being buried under bureaucrats and their attempts to fawn over me as soon as I stepped off the plane?" She asked.

"I merely recalled my time as a Royal Guard under your command, Your Highness." Jeremiah replied, a hint of a smile on his face, "Your dislike of pomp was almost legendary amongst the Guard."

"I'm glad to have left an impression." Cornelia replied dryly, "As pleasant as this trip down memory lane is, I believe you wished to brief me on the progress in the hunt for Zero?"

Jeremiah became serious at once. "Of course. Do you wish to wait for your knights to arrive or shall we start now?"

"Dalton and Guilford are ensuring that our Gloucesters are stowed correctly and will be some time." Cornelia replied, "So brief me now and I'll be able to brief my knights as well. Euphy, you pay attention as well."

Her sister moved over to a chair and sat down with a sigh. Cornelia also took a seat and gestured for Jeremiah to begin.

"Yes…Let's see…." Jeremiah mused, "Well, to start with, there have been no indications of Zero in the last seven years. It's almost as if he appeared overnight, four days ago in Shinjuku."

"He just appeared? No secret gatherings? No unrest among the Numbers?" Cornelia asked in disbelief.

"The Elevens are _always_ in a state of unrest." Jeremiah said frankly, "From what I gathered, Prince Clovis blamed them for the deaths of Prince Lelouch and Princess Nunnally, so the requirements for becoming an Honorary Britannian are far more stringent and demanding than almost every other Area. In addition, there has been almost no urban renewal, other than what was necessary to build the Settlement, in the seven years since the conquest, thus the creation of the Ghettos.

As to secret meetings, there are countless resistance groups meeting in secret nearly every day, more than in almost any other Area. Mostly, we bribe a member to feed us information on what they do, which mostly amounts to them complaining how awful Britannians are, or minor acts of vandalism. Even so, we only have ears in about a hundred groups Area-wide and none in the Japanese Liberation Front.

Simply put, we were overwhelmed by what was demanded of us and were spread too thin to detect Zero's arrival, creation or movements."

Cornelia and Euphy stared at Jeremiah. Part of them was amazed he had recalled that load of information without notes and part of them was appalled by how bad things were in Area 11.

"That is ridiculous!" Cornelia spat out, "Those groups should have been _eliminated_, not just _tracked_!"

"Prince Clovis was of the opinion that they were of no threat to the forces he had in place, although I think the real reason was that he was worried about being recalled to the Homeland if his Area was constantly a hive of military activity." Jeremiah said bluntly.

"That…_does_ sound like Clovis." Euphemia said hesitantly.

"Yes, unfortunately it does." sighed Cornelia, "And we have to reap what he has sown. Continue, Margrave."

"Yes your Highness. Four days ago, The Purebloods received orders to mobilise in pursuit of an unregistered group of Eleven Terrorists who had stolen a weapon of horrific abilities." Jeremiah said.

"What was it?" Asked Cornelia.

"Deadly poison gas." Jeremiah replied in a small whisper.

"WHAT?!" the princesses shrieked in tandem, shock etched across their faces.

"That was pretty much my reaction." Jeremiah said humourlessly. "I did wonder why only the Purebloods were mobilised. The Third Mobile Battalion has been slightly short of Knightmares for some time. May I ask if you brought any reinforcements with you, Your Highness?"

"A full Knightmare Battalion." Cornelia replied, mind still reeling in shock from the knowledge that terrorists had stolen something that was against international convention. '_Wait a minute…_'

"Stole it? Where from?" she asked suspiciously.

Jeremiah sighed. "From Prince Clovis." The aqua haired Margrave said finally. "Once I became Temporary Viceroy, I searched through Prince Clovis' files trying to find notes on the gas and any possible counteragent there might be, just in case. All I found was a reference to a project called 'Code R' and nothing else. No notes, no description on the project, nothing at all."

"My brother broke the international ban on chemical weapons?" Euphy whispered in disbelief.

"That is if General Bartley's orders and mission briefing can be believed." Jeremiah said softly.

"Jeremiah, tell me everything that happened from the start of the pursuit to the cessation of hostilities." Cornelia commanded harshly.

Jeremiah straightened slightly to almost attention at the command. "Yes Your Highness. I arrived on the scene just as the terrorists deployed their hidden weapon, a crimson Glasgow, which then proceeded to destroy one VTOL and damage another. I immediately launched a counter attack, but the terrorist got away and none of the soldiers could tell me where the truck carrying the gas had gone, except 'into the tunnels'. We later received orders to enter the Shinjuku Ghetto from General Bartley." Jeremiah reported.

Cornelia raised an eyebrow at him. "An Eleven got away from you? When you were in the superior Frame?"

"The pilot of the Glasgow was highly skilled, Your Highness. I badly damaged the left arm with my Slash Harken and closed for the kill. The damage must have extended to the Slash Harken connected to the arm, because the pilot tried to fire it and it stuck. Despite being taken off guard by that happening, the pilot ejected the remains of her arm into the path of my Stun Tonfa and used the explosion as cover to fall back into the Ghetto." Jeremiah replied stiffly.

"The terrorist used the Marlinspike Manoeuvre?" Euphy asked, interested. Jeremiah raised an eyebrow at her.

"That is indeed what the technique is called, Your Highness. I must confess, I thought your sister was the only one who knew combat manoeuvres in a Knightmare."

"When you are surrounded by warriors all the time, you pick things up here and there." Euphy replied somewhat defensively, "And sis has dragged me all over the world's hottest combat zones for the last seven years."

"You were perfectly safe!" Cornelia defended herself.

Euphy raised an eyebrow. "True, but I was _also_ cut off, by and large, from anything _remotely_ resembling a normal adolescence, even by the standards of an Imperial Princess of Britannia."

As Cornelia spluttered a rebuttal, Jeremiah decided to continue with his report before thee sibling squabble got out of hand.

"Ahem." Jeremiah coughed and drew the attention of the li Britannia sisters. "Should I continue?"

"Ah…yes, of course." Euphy said, embarrassed that Jeremiah had seen the start of one of their sibling squabbles.

"Well then…at length, we received orders to level the Shinjuku Ghetto and put the inhabitants to the sword." Jeremiah said, bracing himself for the expected outburst.

"No…please, no…" Euphy whispered brokenly, "_Please_ tell me Clovis did not order that." Cornelia looked stunned at the order as well.

"I'm sorry to say that he did." Jeremiah replied, "According to the bridge logs, which I have placed under a need-to-know-only seal, he said that he'd have it reported to the Homeland as 'overdue urban renewal'."

"And he didn't have the bridge logs erased?" asked Cornelia, astonished, "He surely didn't believe they wouldn't be reviewed?"

"In all likelihood he intended to have them erased post-battle." Jeremiah replied, "He was just killed before he could do so."

"He always did have a lack of foresight." Cornelia sighed. Euphy looked at Cornelia in disbelief.

"Sister! Clovis ordered innocent people _massacred_ for no reason other than they 'might' be aiding a small group of terrorists, and all you can say is _that he should have covered it up better?!_" she asked in appalled horror.

"Euphy, if this were to be made public, Clovis' reputation and, by relation, the Imperial Family's reputation would be worth less than _mud_ internationally." Cornelia snapped back, "I don't approve of killing for no reason, but in this case Clovis had no way of separating the terrorists from the civilians! What else was he supposed to do?"

"Not murder innocent people!"

"Euphy, we'll talk about this later." Cornelia said impatiently, "Right now, we have to hear Jeremiah's report. Continue, Jeremiah."

"Of course. The massacre had the effect of forcing the Terrorist Glasgow into the open. The pilot destroyed several tanks and VTOLs before I came across it. It was just after this that I believe I encountered Zero."

"Really? Why do you say that?" Cornelia asked, intrigued.

"A report filed by Private Suzaku Kururugi states that Zero admitted to being in command of the Terrorists during the Battle of Shinjuku.' Jeremiah replied, "As the terrorists only had access to a single out-of-date Glasgow before the battle, yet piloted Sutherlands from about halfway through the battle, it is logical to assume that Zero provided them to the terrorists. He ambushed my wingman and myself while we chased the Glasgow. He was in a Pureblood-marked Sutherland."

"A Pureblood Sutherland? How did he get one?" Euphy asked, confused.

"It was Villetta's." Jeremiah replied, "Prince Clovis had sent his Royal Guard to retrieve the gas, but Villetta stumbled across them in a warehouse, dead to the last man. She dismounted from her Knightmare to check if any were still alive and was knocked out from behind. When she awoke, her Sutherland and sidearm was gone."

"That was foolish of her." Cornelia said disapprovingly, "She should have called for backup before dismounting in a potentially hostile area."

"It was foolish and she has been punished by helping me with the backlog of paperwork ever since becoming the Temporary Sub-Viceroy." Jeremiah assured Cornelia before continuing.

"After I ejected from my Sutherland, I was forced to make my way back on foot. From the records, it is clear that by using the captured Sutherland's IFF and the Glasgow as bait, Zero led Prince Clovis' troops into carefully planned ambushes, which baffled Bartley and enraged His Highness."

"Clovis always did hate it when things didn't go his way." Cornelia said, remembering Clovis' first chess match against Lelouch. Marianne's son had taken less than five minutes to defeat Clovis, who had then stomped out in a rage.

"Quite." Jeremiah agreed, "Prince Clovis then took personal command of his troops from General Bartley. He then made a critical error: he broke the encirclement and diverted half of the troops assigned to guard him to plug the gap."

"…I'm sorry, did you just say that my brother made himself more vulnerable _and_ weakened the encirclement at a critical juncture of the battle?" Cornelia said blankly.

"Essentially, that is what I said Your Highness." Jeremiah replied. Cornelia shook her head in disgust and gestured for Jeremiah to continue.

"Ahem. Prince Clovis directed his forces to encircle the location where the enemy was believed to be and charge forward and destroy them. When his forces did reach the target location, there was no enemy there." The Margrave said.

"They vanished?" Euphy said with a small frown.

"To put it more accurately, they _evacuated_." Jeremiah replied, "A casual look over pre-invasion maps of the area show numerous tunnels and passages in that precise spot. They snuck away and, as they went, sprang the trap they had set. The tunnels, weakened by age and lack of maintenance, were easily collapsed via Slash Harken, destroying most of Prince Clovis' ground forces in a single stroke."

"My God." Cornelia swore. "Clovis was led by the nose into a trap."

"Just so." Jeremiah said with a small frown, "What concerns me is that it was done _flawlessly_. I couldn't have done it, Prince Clovis couldn't have done it and, meaning no disrespect Your Highness, I don't think you could have either."

"None taken." Cornelia said absently, "And was that it?"

"No. After the total defeat of his forces, Prince Clovis ordered the deployment of the Camelot special weapon." Jeremiah replied.

"Camelot?" Euphy asked.

"Prince Schneizel's Knightmare R&D Think-tank." Jeremiah explained to her, "They pioneer Knightmare technology development and frequently field test them in Area's with internal troubles, such as Area 11. The unit here is led by Earl Lloyd Asplund, who created the Z-O1 Lancelot."

"I have heard of Camelot before." Cornelia said, "Once, they made such a high-spec frame that no-one could move it, correct?"

"The Bedivere." Jeremiah said with a nod.

Euphy raised an elegant eyebrow. "The knight who returned Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake by throwing it into the lake at Arthur's request as he lay dying?"

"You know your Arthurian legends, Princess." Jeremiah nodded approvingly, "Anyway, the Lancelot was deployed, with Private Kururugi as the pilot-"

"Wait a moment! A _Number_ piloted a _Knightmare_?!" Cornelia hissed angrily.

"With respect your highness, Private Kururugi has shown himself to be loyal to the Empire on several occasions, including returning to his court-martial after being 'rescued' by Zero, and has freely revealed information about his conversation with Zero during his 'rescue'." Jeremiah placated her. Then, almost as an afterthought, said, "Besides, he's now technically no-longer under the authority of the Area 11 Viceroy."

"WHAT!? Why?!" shouted Cornelia.

"As soon as I cleared him of all charges, Camelot…err…_appropriated_ him." Jeremiah said, shifting nervously as he awaited the Princesses reactions.

Light dawned on Euphemia first. "Because Camelot is under the direct authority of our elder brother Schneizel, local Area Viceroys and Governors have no authority over the personnel they employ. This means…"

Cornelia sighed in defeat. "Which means that if Camelot want to use him as the pilot of their _damned_ prototype, I have no ability to stop them essentially. Have they said why?"

"Earl Asplund mentioned that Private Kururugi was 'an integral, vital and irreplaceable component of the Lancelot' and that he was 'quite ticked at me' for 'almost wasting a rare and precious resource'." Jeremiah quoted wryly.

Despite herself, Cornelia found herself grinning slightly. She had heard of the many and varied eccentricities of Lloyd Asplund and was amused to see that some of them were patently not exaggerations.

"Back to Shinjuku then. Kururugi was ambushed by a squad of Knightmares shooting at him from the top of a building, had five Chaos Mines thrown at him and was lured into a trap which involved having half of Old Tokyo City Hall dropped on him. He only very narrowly escaped by jumping into the old subway system." Jeremiah summarised.

"Half a building? How tall are we talking here?" asked Euphy.

"797 feet in total, so quite high." Replied Jeremiah, "It took Kururugi about three-quarters of an hour to escape the tunnels and make his way back to the Command G-1 where the Camelot trailer was situated. By which time, Prince Clovis had been dead for a good fifteen minutes."

"So how did Kururugi get charged?" Euphy asked, a slightly outraged tone in her voice.

"I'll get to it, your highness, so please be patient." Jeremiah said before continuing, "Now, this is where things get…baffling. None of the guards recalls allowing any unauthorised personnel access to the G-1, none of them was found dead, the bridge staff don't remember anything and neither did General Bartley. The only explainable thing would be the cameras, which had their footage erased and the backups were destroyed physically."

"Most perturbing." Said Cornelia with a frown. "The bridge crew remember _nothing_?"

"They remember the door opening and then they were suddenly in the G-1's brig." replied Jeremiah, "I have, of course, imprisoned them in the cells here as well on suspicion of assisting a regicide. I had Bartley there as well until a rather…odd incident happened."

"Odd?" asked Cornelia wearily. There seemed to be oddities, strangeness and downright weird things happening all the time in Area 11.

"An officer of OSI appeared and ordered me, in the name of the Emperor, to have Bartley released into his custody." Jeremiah said with a frown, "I tried to protest, citing that he was under suspicion of assisting a regicide, but he just repeated his order. I had no choice but to release him. They drove off in an unmarked car and I haven't heard of either since."

Both of the princesses frowned slightly. The Office of Secret Intelligence was a 'Off The Books' agency that very few people knew even existed. They reported directly to the Britannian Emperor and took on missions that one would politely call black ops and, when not being polite, one would refer to the missions as cold murder, assassination, bribery and other distasteful jobs. That an agent had merely been acting as a glorified _message boy _and _cabbie_ was…disturbing, as well as highly irregular.

"That is odd." Cornelia admitted, "But not something I can do anything about. What I _can _do is to tell you to set up interviews with the bridge staff for me. I need to look them in the eye as they tell me they don't remember my brother's killer."

"Yes, Your Highness." Jeremiah said as he scribbled a note on a notepad.

"Now, kindly answer my sister's previous question. If it was physically impossible for Kururugi to have killed Clovis, why was he arrested?" Cornelia asked briskly.

"Ah, that." Jeremiah said with a sour look on his face, "_That _little debacle was the brainchild of one Kewell Soresi, a devoted Pureblood. He proposed it as a way to dismantle the Honorary Britannian System in Area 11. What better way to accomplish this than with the son of the previous leader of Area 11 who had been so kind as to be on the same battlefield. Ignoring, of course, the impossibility of the situation, but then the Purebloods were in control of Area 11, weren't we?"

Jeremiah shook his head in disgust. "I initially turned the idea down, but had to reconsider it when Kewell threatened to overthrow me as the leader of the Purebloods. He claimed that any _true_ Pureblood would jump at the chance to put the Numbers in their place, so I almost _had_ to approve it. I had a bad feeling about the whole idea, however, so managed to make Kewell the man in charge of the entire thing and started an investigation of my own to find the real culprit."

"Sensible." commented Cornelia.

"Given what happened, I'm glad I did. Although I'm wondering exactly what this 'Orange Initiative' is that Zero spoke of, and why Kewell knew about it." Jeremiah said thoughtfully.

"Where is Kewell right now?" Asked Euphy.

"Dead." replied Jeremiah grimly, "Along with a large number of the Purebloods."

"WHAT!?" Cornelia shouted in shock, "What happened to them? Don't tell me it was Zero again?"

"No, it was Kewell's own fault." sighed Jeremiah wearily, "I placed him in protective custody, intending to interrogate him and find out what he knew. Unfortunately, his supporters found out, broke him out of the stockade, and fled with their Knightmares to the Shinjuku Ghetto. The rest of the Purebloods made chase and engaged them in battle. I asked Camelot to deploy the Lancelot in support of the Loyal Purebloods as they were the closest unit. He quibbled about me not being a member of the Royal Family, but Private Kururugi persuaded him to allow the deployment, thankfully."

"How did the battle go?" asked Cornelia, knowing it couldn't be good.

"It was a disaster." Jeremiah replied, "Friendly fire, switching loyalties…just about the only unit who's loyalty could be counted upon was the Lancelot, which eliminated a good few members of Kewell's faction. In the end, Kewell chose to die in a futile gesture against the Lancelot, which now wields MVS (Maser Vibration Swords) blades."

"Really? Asplund completed them?" Cornelia asked in fascination, "They weren't supposed to be feasible for another five years, or so I heard."

"Earl Asplund has evidently been creative with his budget and worked on them whenever he wasn't working on the Lancelot." replied Jeremiah. "Kewell was a stubborn fool, and paid the price for underestimating his foe."

"So the Purebloods are essentially defunct?" Cornelia asked for clarification.

"Regrettably, yes. Between the casualties taken in Shinjuku and this latest debacle, we are barely at platoon-strength." Jeremiah said solemnly.

"I see." Cornelia sat in silence for a moment before speaking again, "Is that everything we know about Zero?"

"The main highlights, certainly." Jeremiah replied as he walked over to the desk and pulled out three thick folders from the stack that was atop it and passed them to her, "These contain after action reports from every Knight involved with the three incidents, as well as detailed casualty reports, damaged equipment manifests and imagery of the battlefields."

"Excellent." Cornelia said, approvingly. She could have Dalton go over these with her and Guilford so they could build a picture of what kind of strategist and tactician they were dealing with. Now, what to do with Jeremiah….?

"Well Jeremiah, you have certainly done your best with a bad hand." Cornelia said slowly, "As such I do not hold you responsible for the Pureblood Incident, nor for Kewell's part in it."

Jeremiah looked relieved.

"However, the 3rd Mobile Battalion, AKA 'The Purebloods', is officially disbanded as of today. All soldiers still active will be transferred to other units. I assume all the current active duty soldiers are one who put down Kewell's faction?"

"Err…yes your highness. Kewell's men were most fanatical. Not a single one survived." Jeremiah said. He was still reeling from having his command stripped from him.

"Good. I believe that Euphy and myself should get some sleep soon so unless there is anything else, I would like to take the position of Viceroy now." Cornelia said firmly.

"Well…there is just one thing…" Jeremiah said, somewhat nervously.

"Which is?" sighed Cornelia.

"Lelouch vi Britannia and Nunnally vi Britannia." Jeremiah said softly, "I believe them to still be alive."

The silence in the room was deafening.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Next Chapter: Consolidating Positions**

**Authors Note: Next two chapters will be an Interlude and a -5 chapter.**


	15. 10-5: The Immortal Schemer

**Disclaimer: Code Geass is not mine.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 10.5: The Immortal Schemer**

**The Emperor's Private Suite, Imperial Palace, Pendragon, Britannian Homeland**

"Marianne's child is certainly bold, isn't he Charles?" observed a boy who looked no older than about ten. He had long blond hair down to his waist, crimson eyes and was dressed in regal clothes that seemed designed for someone much older.

He was sitting in a chair watching a replay of the Debut of Zero on the television screen, with an amused look on his face. Charles zi Britannia was sitting at a desk, working through paperwork. He looked up at the boy with a fond smile on his face.

"He is young, brother." Charles said with a chuckle, "You know how young people are. So impatient, so reckless. Being daring is a part of that."

"Hah. Quite." the boy laughed. "But this-! A masked costume? A dramatic oration? He is strongly reminding me of _you_, Charles!"

Charles looked slightly indignant. "I am a _far_ better orator than my cast-off son." he stated, "And I do _not_ wear a costume!"

"You wear a mask though." The boy countered smoothly, "Every time you are out there, droning on and on about how men are not equal and all that nonsense, you are wearing a mask for others to see."

"And you know how much I dislike having to do so, brother." The Emperor retorted as he stood up, walked over to the screen, and pointed at the screen, where Lelouch, in his disguise of Zero, had just clicked his fingers to reveal C.C.'s prison capsule, "Whereas Lelouch? He _revels_ in his mask! You can see it in every movement! He _enjoys_ playing Zero, where he can act against me without fear of reprisal, _or so he thinks_!"

The boy merely chuckled again. "In other words, you're jealous of your son for having a role he can enjoy playing. Am I right?"

Charles threw the boy a dirty look. "Brother!" he complained, "Would you please be more serious?"

"Oh, but I am serious." the boy said, "You and Lelouch are actually scarily alike. You both lost your mothers at a young age, you are both highly intelligent, driven, focussed on your respective goals and, above all else, stubborn. Just about the only thing you have that he doesn't is a harem of nubile and willing women to bed."

"Brother, most of those 108 'willing and nubile' women are gold digging societal harpies with the collective intelligence of a concussed cow." Charles retorted with a grimace as he thought of certain members of the Imperial Consorts.

"Nevertheless," the boy replied, taking a sip of water before continuing, "Were not for the fact that he's trying to destroy Britannia, and thus stop the Ragnarok Connection, I would be tempted to offer him a place at the Directorate."

Charles regarded the boy with a half-quizzical, half-incredulous expression. The Directorate was their brainchild, their trump card in maintaining control of Britannia and keeping the rest of the world unaware of their true goal. It had been through the research of the Directorate that they had discovered the way to use the Sword of Akasha to slay God.

Moreover, his brother would have given Lelouch a position there if it weren't for the small fact he hated Charles in particular and Britannia in general?

"Old man, are you certain that you are not growing senile in your old age?" Charles demanded.

This earned him a wave of irritated dismissal from the boy. "Of course not. Besides, you are just as old as I am Charles." he said with a grin.

"You hardly look it brother." Charles retorted fondly, "Now, what do you propose to do about Lelouch?"

The boy became serious. "We know from your interrogation of Clovis' spirit in C's World that the whelp still seeks answers to who killed Marianne. The bait, Cornelia and Euphemia, are already in place. All we have to do is wait for him to take it and we will have what we need to lure in C.C."

"What makes you so certain she will come after my son?" Charles asked.

The boy smiled smugly. "I felt the death of her only other contractor on the day Lelouch killed Clovis. She is an unusual one, becoming attached to the ones she contracts with, so I highly doubt that she will be able to not come to his aid." he replied.

"I see. And if he does not take the bait?"

"Nunnally. We capture my _adorable _little niece and bring her here. Lelouch will have no option but to follow." The boy smiled evilly, which looked very disturbing on the face of a child.

"You really think he would abandon his rebellion to chase after a useless crippled girl?" Charles asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Now Charles, you _know_ that bonds between siblings are the strongest in the world." The boy said reprovingly, "I would do so for you in a heartbeat. Wouldn't you?"

"Of course brother. I was merely teasing you." Charles reassured him.

The boy pouted. "Charles, that was mean."

The Emperor of Britannia grinned like a schoolchild. "It's not often I get to catch you off guard, old man. Pardon me while I bask in the moment."

The boy chuckled again. "You really haven't changed since we first entered into our contract, my brother. Always stay the same Charles, because I think you are just fine as you are."

"Thank you brother." Charles smiled back at the boy before looking at the clock. "Brother, you have a meeting at the Directorate in five minutes."

"Eh? Is it that time already?" The boy looked startled as he got up and looked at the clock. "Dearie dear, you're right Charles. Walk me to the Thought Elevator?"

"Of course, Brother." Charles said as he walked over to the nearby wall and pressed a concealed button, causing the wall to slid up and reveal a hidden passage.

"Age before beauty, old man." Charles said with a grin.

"Pearls before swine, Charles." retorted the boy.

The boy walked through the door, swiftly followed by Charles.

The door closed behind Charles zi Britannia, Emperor of Britannia, and his brother, V.V., Prince of Britannia and Head of the Geass Directorate as they advanced into the darkness of the secret passage and towards the Thought Elevator.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**


	16. Interlude: The Stringless Puppet

**Disclaimer: Code Geass is not mine. I just write in the universe that it exists in.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Interlude 3: The Stringless Puppet**

**Area 11 Administration Building**

Villetta Nu stood guard outside the Viceroy's Office, her hands crossed behind her and her legs in the stance known to the world as Parade Rest. She had a neutral expression on her face, which encouraged those who knew her to step lightly around her, for Villetta Nu was not a person who suffered fools and incompetents lightly, if at all.

Within her mind however, she was in turmoil, thoughts flashing past faster than she could process them.

'_I was a loyal soldier of Britannia! A member of the Purebloods! And now…_' She thought as she glared at a passing pair of soldiers, who sped up in order to get away from her line of sight.

The silver haired woman sighed. Had it only been four days since her world had been turned on its head? Four days since she make the conscious decision to betray her homeland?

She thought back to the moment that her path had become unstuck from the course she had set it upon at the start of her military career.

_Flashback_

_Villetta came to in Jeremiah's office, which was odd. The last thing she remembered was searching _her_ office for her Courier Personal Identification Code for…the Courier!_

"_Welcome back, Villetta Nu." a familiar voice said from her left._

_She whipped her head around to see the face of the boy from the warehouse in the Shinjuku Ghetto!_

"_You!" she growled, "What did you do to me?"_

"_That is an unimportant question." The boy said as he crossed to Jeremiah's desk and sat down behind it, "What you should be asking is 'how is it that I can remember something that was deeply buried and locked up within my own consciousness?'"_

_Villetta scowled. "_That_ is unimportant. You are under arrest on suspicion of terrorism against the Holy Empire of Britannia. Surrender peacefully or I will use force to bring you in." she ordered imperiously._

_The boy had the nerve to chuckle! "That was said with such aristocratic _arrogance_ that I doubt a member of the 108 Imperial Consorts could match it." he said with a smile, "I doubt it matters much, but for the record, I resist arrest. What now?"_

"_Now I beat the crap out of you for stealing my Sutherland!" Villetta snarled and made to advance, but was surprised when she could not move so much as a muscle._

"_Wh-what the…?" Villetta grunted in shock, "I-I can't move!"_

_The black haired boy sighed in what seemed to be exasperation. "Didn't it occur to you that if I can freely control your memories, I could also implant commands preventing you from attempting to harm me or call for help? You need to think a few moves in advance, Villetta."_

"_Who _are_ you?" Villetta hissed as she stood frozen before the desk like a garden statue, "What the hell have you done to me?"_

"_Ah, a sensible question at last." The boy smiled, "My name is Lelouch vi Britannia, formerly the 11__th__ Prince and 17__th__ in line to the Imperial Throne of the Holy Empire of Britannia. It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance properly Villetta. As for what I did to you…well, think back to Shinjuku, as well as not half an hour ago in your office."_

_The silver-haired woman's mind went blank. Wait, what? A Prince of the Realm? No way. Just…no. _

_She could remember…telling him the Pureblood's' mission, giving him her Knightmare, him ordering her to be his servant, all in Shinjuku. And not half an hour ago, he had interrogated her about the classified investigation that had been conducted into the Death of Prince Clovis…shit. _

"_Impossible." Villetta said aloud, "Prince Lelouch and Princess Nunnally died seven years ago during the invasion. You can't be him!"_

"_The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." Lelouch replied dryly, "But, as you seem somewhat intransient in this case, why not consult someone you trust? Jeremiah, if you would do the honours?"_

_A smiling Jeremiah Gottwald strode out from behind Villetta to stand beside Lelouch in a posture that suggested that he deferred to the boy._

"_L-Lord Jeremiah?!" Villetta said in shock, "What's going on here?"_

"_Villetta." Jeremiah inclined his head in greeting, "I would suggest that you calm down. You look as though you're about to hyperventilate."_

"_Damn it all, tell me what is going on here!" Villetta tried to shout. 'Tried to' being the operative phrase here, as all that came from her mouth was an ordinary speaking tone._

_Smirking at the look of frustration on Villetta's face, Lelouch turned his head to look at Jeremiah. "Jeremiah, it seems your subordinate doesn't believe who I am. Would you care to enlighten her?"_

"_You are His Most Royal Highness Prince Lelouch vi Britannia." Jeremiah said serenely before looking at Villetta, whose jaw had dropped in shock._

"_I was stationed at the Aries Villa for an entire year, Villetta." Jeremiah told his subordinate, "I would recognise him anywhere. He is who he says he is."_

"_But…why? Why let the world believe he is dead?" Villetta asked bewilderedly, "He's a Prince!"_

"_A Prince who was sacrificed as a tool of diplomacy." Lelouch replied mildly, "A Prince who was cast out from the Royal Family. A Prince who was almost killed by a Britannian SPEC-Ops team a day after the invasion. A Prince, in short, who has absolutely no reason to be loyal to his own country."_

_Lelouch's voice never rose above a normal speaking volume but as he spoke, the silver-haired woman found herself flinching at the absolute loathing and ice-cold anger the exiled prince had in his voice._

_Seeing that Villetta was stunned from his small rant, Lelouch continued, "Jeremiah tells me that you aspire to become true nobility, Villetta. An admirable goal, although you will either not obtain it or wish you hadn't once you get it."_

"_What?" Villetta's eyes narrowed at the violet eyed boy in suspicion, "How so?"_

"_I am by far more familiar with the nobility than you are." Lelouch replied, "And they do __**not**__ like commoners -even Knights- trying to claw their way up to their level, even if their ancestors did the exact same thing. All noble families would move to block a Patent of Nobility sponsored by anyone other than my father, The Emperor. Moreover, even if by some miracle you accomplish a feat that makes the Emperor elevate you to the Nobility, the rank will be low on the scale, such as Baroness, and you will be snubbed, taunted and belittled by all of the other Nobles. Even your descendents, if you manage to attract a Noble husband, will be sneered at as second-class new Nobles, for at least a couple of generations."_

_Villetta looked stunned at the revelation, but rallied enough to say, "Why should I believe you?"_

_Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "Because you are just as aware as any citizen of Britannia who has constant contact with Nobles are of exactly how arrogant and self-serving most of them are. Anything that threatens the status quo is ruthlessly stamped out - such as a lowly Knight being made a Noble." he replied pointedly._

"_I have to become a Noble!" Villetta fired back, " I have to! I have worked too hard to fail now!"_

"_The hardest thing for a person to acknowledge is that sometimes, no matter how hard you try, there are some things that are beyond your reach." Lelouch said with a shrug, "I admire your determination, but in the _current_ Britannia, you will not succeed."_

_The exiled prince let that hang in the air for a moment before continuing, "Villetta, you have two choices before you. The first is that I erase your memory of this entire conversation and instil in you the desire to transfer to the E.U. Front, where you might -_might_- earn the elevation you seek by distinguishing yourself in battle. You will never return to this Area."_

_The matter-of-fact way in which he informed her of this option told Villetta, it would not bother him whatsoever to do this to her._

"_And…the other 'choice' before me is what them? Becoming your _slave_?!" Villetta sneered half-heartedly._

"_Far from it." Lelouch replied, "The only reason that you are even _getting_ a second option is because of Jeremiah. He has prevailed upon me to release your will from my control and allow you to join my group."_

"_Join you? To what end?" Villetta asked._

_Lelouch leaned forwards to gaze at the woman before him with a small smile on his face. "Why, the destruction of the current Britannian regime of course." he said lightly._

_Villetta stared at Lelouch in stupefied fascination, as if he had just made a social faux pas at a high society party and she could not believe he had done it._

"_You're mad." she said at last, "Absolutely insane. Britannia controls half of the globe! You can't just _destroy_ that kind of power with a click of your fingers!"_

"_I have a plan," Lelouch replied, "And it involves the death of my father and the death or imprisonment of all of the Nobles, as well as my brothers and sisters, who supported his regime. For that to happen, Britannia will need to be pushed to its absolute limit -militarily, politically and morally. I will soon have the loyalty of a group of Eleven -_Japanese_- terrorists and they will be the first nail in the coffin for Britannia. I, by myself, am not a threat -not much of one anyway- but give me a loyal army and I am a force to be reckoned with."_

_Villetta stared at the boy with wide eyes. The confidence in his voice was not feigned, nor was it arrogance. He honestly believed he could accomplish this feat._

"_You'd just lock up the Nobility?" She asked incredulously, "And the rest of the Royal Family? Who'd rule Britannia with the Emperor dead?"_

_Lelouch raised an eyebrow at her. "The only ones who would not be imprisoned would be those who have no interest or claim to the throne, as well as Nunnally and myself."_

_The female Knight reeled mentally. "You want to become Emperor!" she accused._

"_No, I do _not_." Lelouch stated emphatically, "I am no-longer a Prince. I discarded my Succession Rights just before I was exiled. _Nunnally_, on the other hand…" he trailed off leadingly._

"_A blind cripple as Empress? Are you touched in the head?" Villetta scoffed. The glare that Lelouch sent at her made her quail slightly._

"_With the Emperor dead, most of the Nobility and the Imperial Family locked away and the Military crushed, Britannia will be a serpent without a head." Lelouch continued once he was certain that his glare had suitably cowed Villetta, "In the state the whole empire will be in, they will have no choice but to accede to any demands my side puts forwards."_

_He leaned forward again, his violet eyes boring into Villetta's own agate orbs. "When all is said and done with, Britannia -and Nunnally- is going to need an entirely new Peerage. Barons, Earls, Dukes…and Duchesses." he said seriously, "Serve me and I will see that the very first new Duchess is _Grand_ Duchess Villetta Nu, with influence second only to the Imperial Family itself."_

_Villetta gaped at this offer. There had not been a Grand Duke/Duchess in over a century, when the last had been executed for High Treason Against The Empire. A Grand Duke had precedence over almost every other Peer of the Realm other than another Grand Duke._

"_Do you really think I can be bought?" she asked archly._

"_Villetta, you already have." Lelouch replied with a small smile, "Let's face it, in a tossup between a possible Barony versus a possible Grand Duchy, its obvious which you will choose."_

"_Your offer is considerably more dangerous than the way of merit." she retorted._

"_The greater prize comes with a greater risk." Lelouch replied with a shrug, "Now, your answer?"_

"_A choice between fight and possibly die to get a low peerage or betray my country for the highest peerage possible in the Empire." Villetta drawled. She looked at Jeremiah, who had remained silent up until now._

"_Lord Jeremiah, is his offer sincere?" she asked._

"_It is." Jeremiah replied solemnly, "I trust you to make the appropriate decision, Villetta."_

"_A choice with the options I have can't really be called an equal choice, now can it?" she replied wryly._

"_To paraphrase from my father, no choice is equal." Lelouch pointed out helpfully, "This is a one time offer, and I'm afraid I have other things to do tonight, so if you could make your decision I would be most grateful."_

_Villetta sighed. "I'm yours. Just undo whatever the hell it is that you have done to me already. Standing like a statue isn't exactly comfortable you know."_

"_Welcome to my service Villetta." Lelouch said before he snapped his fingers and the silver haired woman fell back into unconsciousness._

_When she reawakened in her quarters, Lelouch had been gone for a while, but he had kept his word and undid whatever he had done to her -Hypnosis? Subconscious suggestion?- which meant that she still had access to the memories that had been suppressed before her 'interview' and she was free to move and talk as before._

_She had considered arresting Jeremiah and tracking down Lelouch only briefly before she discarded the idea. Everything Lelouch had said about her chances at a peerage as Britannia currently was had the unfortunate ring of truth to it._

_Besides, she had always been good at spotting good people to attach herself to, and Lelouch vi Britannia was currently showing all the signs that he was such a person. Honourable, charismatic and honest. _

_She would be a fool to let this chance -the chance of claiming a Grand Duchy- pass her by._

_A knock at her door drew her attention. She opened it to find Jeremiah waiting there._

_He smiled at her. "Ready for service to His Highness?"_

"_You aren't under arrest yet, so yes." Villetta shot back as she followed him out the door, slamming it behind her with a crash._

_Flashback End_

The silver haired woman was brought out of her thoughts by the sounds of footsteps approaching her position.

She looked up to see Cecile Croomey, Earl Lloyd Asplund and Suzaku Kururugi approaching, right on schedule.

Villetta suppressed a smirk. This was going exactly as Lord Lelouch had planned.

What fun!

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**


	17. Consolidating Positions

**Author's Note: Hey. Sorry for the week long drought of new chapters, but family business intruded and I had barely any time for writing.**

**My time away from the computer was not unfruitful, however. I spent it developing new Knightmares for use in this story. Look forward to them, by all means.**

**Now, on to the Fic!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass. Please take note of this small fact.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 10: Consolidating Positions**

**Viceroy's Office, Area 11 Administration Building**

"I'm sorry, _what_ did you just say?" Cornelia asked hoarsely. She and Euphemia were staring intently at the aqua-haired noble.

"I said that I believe Lady Marianne's children to still be alive." Jeremiah replied. He looked very calm considering the dual royal scrutiny he was under.

"Impossible." Euphy said flatly. The youngest li Britannia had a pained look on her face as she spoke that made her older sister lay a comforting hand on her shoulder in support, "Lelouch and Nunnally were children in a war zone, amongst those that had no reason to show them a jot of mercy. They couldn't have survived."

"I would have to respectfully disagree, Princess Euphemia." Jeremiah replied.

"Based on what?" Cornelia snarled. She did not like thinking about what might have happened to Lelouch and Nunnally seven years ago, so this man had _better_ have a good reason for bringing this up.

"Prince Lelouch was, as I believe Your Highnesses might recall, a veritable genius." Jeremiah replied courteously, "His stratagems in chess were brilliant and innovative. Aside from Prince Schneizel, none could hold a candle to him…as your own defeats should have showed you both."

Both Cornelia and Euphy winced at that reminder. Euphy had been defeated in three minutes, while Cornelia had lasted seven minutes before Lelouch had dealt the final blow. It had been humiliating for the teenaged Cornelia to lose to a preteen, but she had admitted that, considering almost all of her half-siblings had lost in less than three minutes, she had lasted far longer, even earning a compliment on her strategy from Lelouch once the game was over.

Leaving his loss to Schneizel to one side, Lelouch's nigh-unparalleled winning streak was quite the slap in the face to the more arrogant members of the Imperial Family.

Guinevere and Carina especially had been particularly incensed by Lelouch's easy victory over them. Odysseus had taken his loss with a pragmatic outlook and a heartfelt congratulation to his half-sibling. Castor and Pollux had merely shrugged, as chess was not their favourite pastime.

"Chess is one thing, _battle_ is quite another." Cornelia replied stiffly.

Jeremiah raised an eyebrow. "He also had a small hobby that very few people knew about. He used computer programs to emulate armies and famous battles that took place in the past, both land and sea." he said quietly, "He altered the program so that an actual 'Fog of War' existed on the field, so he had no idea as to the full layout of the field beforehand. In this program, he defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar and successfully beat back the Britannian forces during the Siege of Yorktown, just to name two major battles he programmed into his computer."

The older princess' eyes narrowed in thought. The Battle of Trafalgar had been the worst naval defeat in Pre-Britannian history. If Admiral Viscount Nelson had remained in command, the battle might have been swung in Britannia's favour. Sadly, Admiral Nelson had been assassinated on his way from Whitehall to Merton by agents of Napoleon Bonaparte, the revolutionary general of France. His replacement had been an incompetent fool and had cost Great Britain both the battle and the British Isles.

The Siege of Yorktown on the other hand had been a victory for Britan in part due to Benjamin Franklin being bribed with land and the title of Earl, thus the Washington Rebellion had not been reinforced with troops from France and was crushed by the marshalled forces of the Duke of Britannia.

"Even if what you say is true, there is _no_ evidence that our siblings survived." Cornelia rallied valiantly, "Even if they didn't die in the crossfire, the damned _Elevens_ probably _murdered_ them." The last sentence was uttered bitterly and with dark vengeance promised for the ones responsible.

"Their Highnesses did not die in the crossfire; neither did they get killed by their guards." Jeremiah said with certainly, "I took the liberty of examining the old Eleven Military files that were confiscated after the surrender. A great deal of it was either missing, corrupted or destroyed outright, but the details of the incident I was looking for were still there."

He paused before continuing, "It seems that a group of Britannian Special Forces assaulted the location where Prince Lelouch and Princess Nunnally had been staying since their arrival in to Area 11 or as it was then, Japan."

"WHAT!?" Cornelia and Euphemia shrieked in unison, identical looks of anger and disbelief across their beautiful faces.

"That was my reaction as well." Jeremiah said, only slightly ruffled by the anger emanating from the two Princesses, "Evidently the Japanese Army Soldiers assigned to protect their Highnesses were more skilled and determined than could have been expected, as they fought the Spec-Ops team off, albeit with _very_ heavy casualties."

A sigh of relief escaped from the pink-haired princess as she slumped forward at this news. Cornelia gave her sister a comforting squeeze where her hand rested as she gestured for the aqua-haired nobleman to continue.

"Ahem. Yes. Well, I took the liberty of looking back at records for the Spec-Ops teams that suffered heavy casualties during the invasion and was surprised to find that, purportedly, not a single one had even been deployed." Jeremiah said with a slightly nervous look at the younger princess who had sat up again and was boring a hole in him with her eyes.

"None? That's ridiculous." scoffed Cornelia, "Spec-Ops are nearly always deployed behind enemy lines to sow confusion amongst the enemy, especially immediately prior to an invasion on an island nation!"

"Regardless, I found no record of any teams being deployed whatsoever." Jeremiah replied, "This leads me to two possible scenarios: First, The reports were verbal and not entered into the system, which is patently ridiculous from the outset."

Cornelia had to concede that. The Britannian Army placed a lot of emphasis on filling out the proper forms for everything, especially after-action reports (AAR's), so that scenario was unlikely at best.

"The second scenario is somewhat…troublesome." Jeremiah hesitated before continuing, "The second scenario is that the person behind the assassination of Lady Marianne somehow managed to either suborn an entire Spec-Ops team, got them to attempt to finish the job, killed the survivors and wiped all record of their existence from the database, or snuck a completely different team into Japan under cover of the invasion and wiped all record of their existence once they were dead."

"That…that shouldn't be _possible_." Euphy ventured, "There are almost never enough Spec-Ops teams available, from what my sister has said in the past, and they are all tracked via the Army Personnel Distribution Network, so shouldn't it be noticed if an entire team just vanishes all of a sudden?"

"The alternative scenario is equally unlikely, Your Highness." Jeremiah pointed out respectfully, "Yet I must admit that you are correct. Nevertheless, the fact is an unknown team did attempt to slay their Highnesses Lelouch and Nunnally and that is irrefutable."

"Is anything else mentioned in the Eleven Military report?" Cornelia demanded.

"No, nothing I am afraid." Jeremiah replied, "However, there is someone who can tell us about not only that assault, but Lord Lelouch and Lady Nunnally's entire stay in Japan up to and including the aftermath of the Second Pacific War."

"Who?" Euphy asked eagerly.

"An Honorary Britannian," Jeremiah replied with a small smile, "Who goes by the name of Suzaku Kururugi. They stayed at the Kururugi Shrine for almost the entire six and a half months of their stay. I took the liberty of summoning him, so he ought to be here soon. "

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Suzaku**

**Corridor Approaching Viceroy's Private Office, Area Eleven Administration Bureau**

"And you're SURE that Lord Jeremiah asked for me?" Suzaku asked yet again as they walked towards the Viceroy's office.

"Of course!" Earl Asplund replied laconically, "Would I lie to you?"

"Not _lie_ exactly, but you would fudge the truth a bit, Lloyd." Cecile Croomey said from the other side of Suzaku.

"Dearie me, my subordinates show such little trust in me." Lloyd said dramatically, "_Whatever_ shall I do?"

Both Suzaku and Cecile rolled their eyes at their leader's dramatics.

"Oh yes, before I forget, it seems Prince Schneizel is transferring more funds to our budget." Lloyd said absently, "Evidently he wants to have Lancelot fully armed and armoured on his next sortie."

Suzaku nodded absently as he contemplated his new commander's habit of talking about his experimental Knightmare as an actual person rather than an inanimate object.

"That's good." Cecile said approvingly, "We can probably complete the Variable Ammunition Repulsion Impact Spitfire (VARIS) Rifle with the new funding."

"Ummm…wouldn't a Cockpit Ejection System be a better idea?" Suzaku asked delicately.

Lloyd flapped a hand in airy dismissal, "Oh, I can whip one of those up from spare parts taken from a measly Glasgow, a bit of ablative armour and a lick of paint in a jiffy."

"So why haven't you then?" Suzaku asked bluntly.

"Too busy finishing the MVS blades that you used against the Purebloods yesterday and adjusting the Blaze Luminous to the specs we discussed after Shinjuku." Lloyd replied cheerfully, "_Now_ I'm going to be busy completing the VARIS Rifle, which'll probably take at least a couple of weeks. I'll pencil in the Cockpit Ejection System for after that, alright?"

Suzaku sighed at the lackadaisical way the Earl was treating his safety. "If I die because you didn't install the Ejection System in time, I'm coming back to haunt you Lloyd." he said in a monotone.

"I will have to take the risk, I'm afraid." Lloyd replied mock-seriously.

"Shh!" Cecile hissed at the two squabbling men, "We're almost at the Viceroy's Office!"

"He's _only_ a Margrave, Cecile." Lloyd said lazily, "It's not like it's Prince Schneizel in there. If it was, I would be worried. As it won't be, I have nothing to worry about."

"Lloyd, you are so carefree about the strangest of things." Cecile sighed resignedly as they approached the Viceroy's Office, which had a dark-skinned, silver haired female soldier standing guard outside it. Suzaku thought he recognised her as being the temporary Sub-Viceroy, but could not quite remember her name.

"Private Kururugi?" the soldier asked formally once they stopped in front of the doors. Once he saluted in response, she continued.

"I will warn you all now, be on your best behaviour." she said sternly, "Not only is Lord Jeremiah in the office, but two Imperial Princesses are as well."

"My, my. It seems Princess Cornelia and Princess Euphemia are very Johnny-on-the-spot." Lloyd said with an indolent air about him.

"Lloyd!" Cecile scolded him with a half exasperated, half angry look on her face.

The silver-haired woman glared half-heartedly at Lloyd but evidently, she had heard of the silver haired man's eccentricities beforehand and had seemingly half expected this reaction from him.

"Don't say that I didn't warn you." the woman muttered as she rapped on the door thrice before opening it and ushering the three members of Camelot into the office.

Suzaku had never seen such a grand room before. The entire room was bigger than the entry hall of the old Japanese Diet Building and luxuriously furnished. The window at the back of the room offered a stunning view of most of the Britannian Tokyo Settlement and the various artworks on the walls were tasteful and well suited to the room.

One painting in particular drew his eye, one that had the familiar forms of Lelouch and Nunnally as they were over seven years ago, before the violence that took their mother from them and trapped Nunnally in a wheelchair.

"I see that you recognise the subjects of that painting, Private Kururugi." an amused voice said from behind the desk and Suzaku snapped his head around to see Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald regarding him with amusement.

"Y-Yes my lord, I do." Suzaku replied after he saluted the man again, "That's Lelouch and Nunnally."

"PRINCE Lelouch and PRINCESS Nunnally you mean, _Eleven_." a commanding voice came from the side as Cornelia li Britannia strode out of a concealing shadow she had been standing in, followed by someone who could only be her younger sister, Princess Euphemia.

Suzaku immediately saluted her, to which she merely nodded in return.

"With respect Your Highness, Lelouch and Nunnally told me that they didn't consider themselves members of the Imperial Family anymore, so they all but ordered me to never refer to them as royalty." Suzaku replied formally.

A hurt look flashed across the two sisters' faces. Before anything further could be said by them, Jeremiah delicately inserted himself into the conversation.

"If I may, Your Highness, I have a few things to say to Private Kururugi before we begin questioning him." the nobleman said politely.

After a moment, the Goddess of Victory nodded begrudgingly and stood back to allow the Margrave to speak.

Jeremiah looked Suzaku in the eyes as he spoke, his agate coloured eyes serious and a touch apologetic.

"First, I feel I must apologise to you for allowing Commander Kewell to accuse and arraign you without the slightest piece of evidence." Jeremiah said, "Unfortunately, internal regimental politics were at play and I was left with little option but to allow him to proceed with his…distasteful plot."

Suzaku was momentarily stunned, but recovered. "It's alright, my Lord. It was out of your control as you said. And you did clear me of all charges with prejudice after all."

"'With Prejudice'? What does that mean?" Euphemia asked with a frown.

"Because I dismissed the Trial before hearing the evidence against Private Kururugi -which amounted to 'He's an Eleven, so he did it!'- , there was a pretty good chance that someone would try to bring the whole thing up again, insufficient evidence or not." Jeremiah explained to the pinkette, "By dismissing the charges with prejudice, _no-one_, not even a member of the Imperial Family, will be able to charge Private Kururugi with these specific charges again."

"He couldn't be accused of them again anyway, surely?" Cecile asked with a frown, "Double Jeopardy would apply here wouldn't it?"

"I ended the trial without coming to a full and proper verdict," Jeremiah replied, "So I'm afraid that the Double Jeopardy clause didn't apply in his case."

"Ah." Cecile muttered with an expression of understanding on her face, "So you made certain no-one could call for a retrial by dismissing the charges with prejudice."

"Quite." Jeremiah said with a wry grin, "To move on, it was late yesterday that I discovered that Prince Lelouch and Lady Nunnally stayed at the Kururugi Shrine. Is that an accurate statement, private Kururugi?"

As the Margrave spoke, Lloyd gently tugged Cecile back until they were a fair distance away from the table. The eccentric Earl could tell that things were going to be spoken of that were not any of their business.

Suzaku stiffened. "Yes, it is." He replied cautiously. They _couldn't_ find out that Lelouch was still alive. Thankfully, Suzaku had no idea where Lelouch was and thus couldn't tell them even if he wanted to.

"Princess Cornelia and Princess Euphemia were both great friends with Lady Marianne's children." Jeremiah had carried on speaking, so Suzaku quickly brought his attention back onto the man before him. "I myself was a Guard at the Aries Villa and admired their mother. What we would like to ask of you is for you to tell us how their Highnesses coped while they stayed with your family."

"They didn't stay with my family initially." Suzaku corrected him in a low voice edged with anger, "They had to be hospitalised for three weeks before they could move to the house that was prepared for them."

This statement took the rest of the room by surprise, Suzaku noted clinically. Both Cornelia and Euphemia blanched slightly and Jeremiah looked taken aback.

"Hospitalised? What for? Nuna should have been close to fully healed by the time she was sent to Japan, and Lelouch wasn't unwell either." Euphemia said, worry in her voice.

Suzaku had a disbelieving look on his face. "You seriously don't know?" he asked incredulously.

"Evidently we do _not_, Private Kururugi, so I would advise you to enlighten us." Cornelia growled at him.

"Nunnally had an infection that developed into a fever that wouldn't break. It was touch and go for a moment." Suzaku replied slowly and carefully, "Lelouch had been severely beaten. He had a mild concussion, several bruised ribs and a couple of minor fractures."

The two Princesses faces went blank with shock, while Jeremiah Gottwald's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Was the infection deliberately introduced into Princess Nunnally's system or was it mere malpractice?" the Margrave barked the question out with restrained rage in his voice.

"I don't know." Suzaku admitted, "I only heard about it when the doctor in charge of their treatment came to give a report to my father. I was…curious and listened at the door, so I missed a word or two here and there."

"Lelouch…was _beaten_?" Euphemia whimpered as she grabbed her sister's hand. Cornelia held on to her younger sister just as tightly.

"Private Kururugi, how old were the marks on my brother's body?" Cornelia asked in a deadly quiet voice.

"About…three days old from when he arrived in Japan." Suzaku replied blandly.

"The Audience…of course, after what Lelouch said to father, he must have sent men to…_educate_ him!" Cornelia snarled in anger, "Damn it all!"

"Not…men." Suzaku corrected her softly, "Lelouch told me, after he got out and we became friends, that it was the Emperor himself who administered the beating."

The shock on the three Britannians faces would have been hilarious under other circumstances. The look of absolute disbelief they wore was almost comical.

"Our…our father beat Lelouch _personally_?" Cornelia finally asked, in a surprisingly hoarse voice, "You are certain that is what Lelouch said?"

"And I quote, 'That old bastard who calls himself my father beat me in a fit of rage at what I said to him.'" Suzaku replied his spine ramrod straight as he spoke.

"My god." murmured Jeremiah, "I had no idea."

"Nor did any of Lelouch's siblings, Lord Jeremiah, so don't blame yourself." Surprisingly, it was Euphemia who spoke these words, bitter anger roiling through her voice as she spoke, despite the tears that fell from her eyes, "We were _all_ unaware and Lelouch paid the price yet again."

The room was silent while the occupants digested Suzaku's revelations and Euphemia's words.

At last, Jeremiah broke the silence with, "Well, that certainly was an unexpected revelation by you, Private Kururugi. Was His Highness depressed or angry once he got out of hospital?"

Suzaku frowned in thought. "I…couldn't say. I didn't know Lelouch before his mother was murdered and Nunnally crippled, so I have nothing to compare him to." he replied hesitantly, "What was he like before?"

Cornelia gave a small smile as she remembered her brother. "He was…kind. He, Nunnally and Euphy used to play together all the time in the Aries Villa's gardens. I didn't like him at first though."

Euphy playfully glared at her sister. "I do recall you almost strangling him the first time you both met." she teased her sister.

"How was I to know he was Lady Marianne's son?" Cornelia protested with a small blush, "I thought he was some noble's son who was trying to get close to you!"

The pink haired princess rolled her eyes as she spoke, "As _I _remember that day, I was uncomfortable at my first big Ball and a kind, gentle boy, with the most fascinating violet eyes, offered to dance with me." Euphy's own bluish-violet eyes sparkle with remembered joy, "He twirled me around that dance floor expertly. By the time the next song began, my worries were long gone.

Then a green-eyed monster came along and tried to throttle him, at least until Lady Marianne stopped her." Euphy finished her recitation with a small grin, leaving her usually unflappable sister blushing brightly.

"I remember Lelouch telling me about that as well." Suzaku commented, "He also said that the 'cute pink haired girl' he danced with glomped him every chance she got after that."

This time it was Euphemia who blushed. "How did that come up?" she asked.

"My cousin, Kaguya Sumeragi, decided she wanted to marry him." Suzaku replied dryly, "So she showered him with attention at every possible opportunity, including one time when she tried to sneak into the bath with him."

"Why that little…!" Euphy started to say, with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"Euphy, calm down." Cornelia ordered, "Private, how old was your cousin at the time?"

"Eight going on thirty." Suzaku replied whilst he kept a wary eye on Euphemia.

"Precocious?" Jeremiah queried with a smile.

"Just about the only time Lelouch ever voluntarily exercised was when Kaguya chased him around the shrine." Suzaku replied dryly, "It drove Todoh-sensei up the wall."

"Wait, Todoh as in _Kyoshiro_ Todoh? The Phantom of Itsukushima's Miracle?" Jeremiah asked sharply.

Suzaku nodded. "He was my personal martial arts instructor. He tried to instruct Lelouch as well, but Lelouch spent most of the time dodging him and calling him colourful names whenever he was forced to actually do the exercises."

Cornelia snorted. "That sounds like Lelouch alright. He preferred to use brainpower rather than muscle power."

"It sounds like you and His Highness were good friends." Jeremiah observed.

"Not at first." Suzaku admitted with a chuckle, "We both disliked each other because of who our fathers were, but it was Nunnally that helped us to stop squabbling and become friends."

"Nuna was good at doing that." Euphy smiled as she remembered her favourite half-sister, "Though I always used to argue with her over spending time with Lelouch."

"Nunnally _argued_ with someone?" Suzaku asked in surprise.

"She could be far more stubborn than anyone gave her credit for being." Cornelia replied dryly, "If she decided on something, she would get her way, come hell or high-water. Wasn't she like that when she was staying at the shrine?"

"No, not at all." Suzaku replied, "She preferred to stay near Lelouch as much as possible and rarely had a bad word to say about anybody. In order to get Lelouch to do something, all she usually had to do was pout cutely and he'd cave."

"Ah, _that_ look." Cornelia and Euphy chorused in unison.

"She used it on me as well." Suzaku said ruefully, "It worked so well that Kaguya started doing it too."

Jeremiah cleared his throat. "Now, I'm afraid we'll have to move on to less pleasant memories. The Invasion, the day afterwards and what happened after the Formal Surrender."

Suzaku took a deep breath before starting. "Lelouch and I were climbing a hill at the back of the shrine to get…flowers, I think it was, for Nunnally, when we saw the Britannian Air Force approaching en-masse. We were surprised and a bit shocked so we ran back to the house."

"Naturally." Cornelia said with a nod, "The Earl of Marlinspike, the commander of the invasion, designed that initial advance for maximum intimidation value."

"Once we got back to the house, Lelouch was cornered by Todoh-sensei." Suzaku continued, "He put a pistol to Lelouch's head and asked him if he had any knowledge of Britannia preparing to invade Japan prior to his leaving Pendragon."

Cornelia's hand clenched into a fist at her side. How _dare_ he threaten her little brother!

Euphy was trembling, whether from anger or retroactive fear for her brother Suzaku couldn't tell, while Jeremiah maintained a strict poker face, with only minor twitches showing that he was unhappy at this revelation.

"And how did Lelouch respond?" Euphy asked tightly.

Suzaku smiled wanly. "He said that had he known of such preparations, he would have informed my father as soon as he possibly could have and done so with glee at a chance to spite his father. As it was, he had no knowledge that such an attack was planned and was of the opinion that it had been planned after his departure from Pendragon as a deliberate move that made use of Japanese complacency now they had 'hostages' that were essentially expendable to Britannia."

"Good _god_, he hated father." Cornelia muttered absently as her mind raced through Suzaku's recounting of her brother's words. Lelouch had struck solidly on what she personally believed their father had done, yet there was a flaw to the reasoning.

Preparations for an attack and occupation of then-Japan had not begun until three months into Lelouch and Nunnally's exile, abruptly and for no divisible reason other than Japan's price hiking of Sakuradite and blockade of Britannia, along with the Chinese Federation.

Those reasons alone were not enough for an invasion of a country, especially one that you were in the middle of delicate negotiations with and also held two members of your own countries ruling family hostage.

Something was very fishy here.

"Todoh-sensei said the same thing as he holstered his pistol and walked away." Suzaku said, "Now that I think about it, Lelouch was amazingly unruffled by the entire incident. I think he knew Todoh-sensei wouldn't kill him. He could make snap-judgements like that."

"He had balls of steel is more like it!" Cornelia exclaimed, looking slightly pale.

"I tend to agree with Her Highness on this one." agreed Jeremiah. He looked slightly impressed with Lelouch's daring in the face of a weapon being levelled at his head at the tender age of ten going on eleven.

"Me three." chimed Euphemia, who also looked rather pale.

Suzaku stifled a chuckle at his own memory of the incident. Lelouch had maintained his cool exterior until Todoh had left the room before falling heavily on his rear and breathing deeply for a couple of minutes before letting Suzaku help him up and they both went to apologise to Nunnally for not getting her flowers.

When he related this to his listeners, Cornelia was still not happy that Todoh had threatened her brother. Neither were the other two.

"So, to sum up the day before the attack, Prince Lelouch discovered that his country had invaded Japan and he and his sister were at the tender mercy of their hosts, a point that was reinforced by Todoh, his teacher, holding a gun to his head, regardless of whether he intended to actually use the gun or not." Jeremiah said with repressed anger, "Is that an accurate summation of events, Private Kururugi?"

"Err…yes." Suzaku said nervously.

Euphemia pinched the bridge of her nose to fend off a headache. "I am not looking forward to hearing what happened the next day." she muttered to her sister quietly, who nodded in agreement.

"The next morning, two platoons of soldiers arrived and reinforced the original platoon that was guarding the shrine." Suzaku continued at a reluctant gesture from Cornelia, "It was a good thing they arrived when they did, because the assassins struck at midday."

"At _midday_?" Cornelia asked, confused, "That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Any greenhorn in Spec-Ops knows never launch any assaults at midday unless you want your team killed. The optimal times are just before dawn and just after dusk. What was the commander thinking?"

"I wasn't complaining." Suzaku replied dryly, "There were only fifteen of them, but they had body armour that absorbed bullets like sponges and attacked with some strange machine guns that had three barrels. If they had actually attacked at dusk or dawn, Lelouch, Nunnally and me would be dead.

As it was, eight-tenths of the soldiers died before the last assassin went down. Those that were only badly wounded put a pistol in their mouth and pulled the trigger."

Euphemia looked green at the description, but both Cornelia and Jeremiah frowned.

"I have never heard of such effective body armour." Jeremiah opined.

Cornelia nodded seriously in agreement. "Nor have I heard of Tri-barrelled handheld machine guns. Are you sure of your facts, Private Kururugi?" she asked intently.

"Yes Your Highness." Suzaku replied, "One managed to break through the soldiers and find where we were hiding. He had his gun levelled at us, but three Japanese soldiers came up behind him and emptied a clip each into him. He still managed to twist around as he fell and tore one of the soldiers into mincemeat with his gun before he died."

"What happened afterwards?" Jeremiah asked intently.

"All the guns exploded about an hour after the last assassin fell." Suzaku replied, "That killed a couple more soldiers who were guarding the pile of weapons."

_That_ titbit made both Cornelia and Jeremiah's eyebrows shoot up. What kind of _moron_ would issue guns to their soldiers that could blow up if hit in the wrong place? Moreover, what kind of _imbecile_ would actually _use_ a gun that was packed with explosives?

"What _is it _with this country? It's full of strange goings on!" Cornelia growled in exasperation.

"So it would seem, Your Highness." Jeremiah agreed wearily.

"Suzaku, what happened after the surrender? What happened to Lelouch and Nunnally?" Euphemia pressed, her eyes broadcasting urgency.

Suzaku started slightly. The pinkette was leaning towards him imploringly and he remembered Lelouch telling him that if he ever met Cornelia and Euphy together, _never_ check Euphy out in front of her sister or Cornelia would give you a guided tour of hell.

"Err…Well…after the assassination attempt, Lelouch and Nunnally were moved to a more secure location to prevent possible reprisals by angry members of the populace." Suzaku said nervously, keeping his eyes fixed very firmly at a point far above Euphemia's head.

"When my father…committed suicide…I joined them and we made our way to the coast with our escort. We heard about the surrender via the mil-net." Suzaku said with pain in his voice when talking about his father, "When I woke up a couple of days later, after we moved to Gunma Province, Lelouch and Nunnally had vanished, leaving only a note telling me not to worry about them and thanking me for helping them while they were in my families care."

Suzaku reached under his uniform and pulled a small pouch slung on a cord from around his neck. Opening it, he pulled a worn, folded piece of paper from it and handed it to Euphy.

Hands trembling, Euphemia unfurled the paper to see the familiar handwriting of her long-lost brother on it. The writing was slightly sloppy, but then it was probably written in a hurry.

"They're alive!" she whispered in delight as she passed the note to Cornelia, who smiled as she too recognised Lelouch's writing.

"It seems so." Britannia's Goddess of Victory replied as she carefully refolded the paper and handed it back to Suzaku with a nod of thanks.

"Well, we now know they were alive and well up to a couple of days after the surrender at the very least." Jeremiah thought aloud, "I severely doubt Prince Lelouch would risk travelling alone with his sister without a destination in mind, so we can presume that he had a plan when he departed."

"I agree. Lelouch loved Nunnally too much to put her at any great risk." Cornelia agreed, "Private Kururugi, you said they vanished in Gunma, correct? What was the precise location?"

"Umm…A couple of miles over the border from Saitama Prefecture." Suzaku strained his mind trying to remember, "We used trucks to get from the Ibaraki Prefecture coastline, passing through Mito-cho and Tochigi Prefecture, before heading south into Gunma."

Suzaku saw a map of the Kanto Area of Japan on the wall, walked over to it, and placed a finger on the thin part of Gunma that was sandwiched between the two prefectures to the east, Saitama and Tochigi.

"Here. Somewhere along this part of Gunma." he said confidently.

"So from there…" Jeremiah said as he walked up beside Suzaku, "…They could go West, towards Maebashi City; North-East, towards Utsunomiya City; back East, into Ibaraki Prefecture or South, towards Saitama City or Tokyo."

"Lelouch wouldn't go west or North." Suzaku said firmly, "He'd never been to Tochigi or Gunma before."

"What about Ibaraki?" Cornelia asked, "Doubling back along your own path is a classic way to fool pursuit."

Suzaku shook his head. "If he had transport, I'd say yes, but they didn't even have a wheelchair for Nunnally; she had to leave it behind in Ibaraki. Lelouch wasn't exactly strong, so his destination would have to be somewhat close by."

Euphy nodded in agreement. "I think his eventual destination would have been Tokyo." she said firmly, "There were a couple of thousand or so Britannians in Tokyo before the invasion, so he would have tried to blend in with the crowd."

"This is corroborated by my investigation." Jeremiah nodded, "I've been making quiet enquiries over the last seven years and eliminating cities in Area 11 that their Highnesses could be in. The only city I left unchecked was the Tokyo Settlement."

"Why?" asked Cornelia.

"I…I assumed that Prince Clovis would recognised his self-declared chess 'rival' if Prince Lelouch was in Tokyo." Jeremiah admitted.

"A fair point." Cornelia conceded. Clovis had had many faults, but he had possessed an excellent memory, as evidenced by the painting that hung on the wall. He would have recognised Lelouch or Nunnally in a heartbeat.

"Now, now. Before you all go charging off on your white steeds, I would like to pose a question." Lloyd called across the room.

Cornelia regarded the Earl with scant favour. "What?" she asked frostily.

"What if Prince Lelouch has no desire to be found?" the Earl asked.

This question seemed to stun the other Britannians and even Suzaku.

"What do you mean 'if he has no desire to be found'?" Cornelia spat out as she glared at the man, "Lelouch is my family! I love him, Euphy loves him, and we want him and Nunnally _home_."

"Ah, but what of Prince Lelouch's feelings towards the _Emperor_?" Lloyd pointed out astutely, "I'm certain that, had he felt inclined to do so, he could have come forward at any time in the past seven years and been welcomed back by Prince Clovis, swiftly followed by the rest of the Imperial Family.

Yet he hasn't. Why? I'm certain his abiding dislike and grudge against the Emperor is one reason why he has remained in hiding. His sister is another, I suspect."

"Nunnally." Cornelia muttered. Yes, Nunnally would be a strong motivator for Lelouch to hide his heritage. The second Nunnally was back in Britannia, their father would marry her off to a close ally of his, using her wellbeing to browbeat Lelouch into obedience and coerce his conformity to the will of the Emperor.

"Another point might be Lady Marianne's assassination." Jeremiah put in grimly, "Prince Lelouch's tirade against the Emperor made it clear that he suspected his father of at the very least being complicit with the puppet master of the whole incident."

"He thinks father had his mother murdered?!" Euphy gasped in horror.

"The night before the assassination, Lady Marianne ordered me to pull my security detail back." Cornelia said abruptly, her eyes narrowed in thought, "Lady Marianne was very cautious and trusted precious few of the Imperial Court to be _truly_ alone with her aside from certain members of the Imperial Family…including the Emperor."

"But…the assassination happened the next day!" Euphy protested.

"That doesn't mean that something _didn't_ happened on that night." Cornelia countered, "No, Earl Asplund has a point. We will have to be discrete when conducting our search. By my authority as Second Princess of Britannia, I order all of you to secrecy. You are not to mention the hunt for my siblings to another soul without _my_ permission. Understood?"

"Yes, Your Highness!" Jeremiah, Lloyd, Cecile and Suzaku responded with salutes (a very sloppy one in Lloyd's case, but a salute nonetheless).

"Understood, Viceroy." Euphemia nodded her acquiescence firmly.

"Now, I will be busy taking care of various resistance groups in the Tokyo area for quite some time." Cornelia said with a feral grin, "Euphy will be handling the review and correction of Area 11 internal policies that it seems is required.

Jeremiah, you have impressed me considerably. You have managed, on your own, to pinpoint Lelouch's general area in seven years, in addition to maintaining yourself to the standards expected of a former member of the Royal Guard. I am hereby placing you in charge of the search for Lelouch and Nunnally. You are to track them down and bring them into protective custody as soon as possible. Tell me, do you trust Villetta Nu?"

"With my life and the lives of Prince Lelouch and Princess Nunnally." Jeremiah responded instantly.

"Good, because it is their lives you might be putting at risk by telling her of this." Cornelia said sternly, "You may bring her into your confidence, but anyone else who questions your search's target or purpose is to be told that you are searching for a person of interest in an ongoing investigation."

"That does have the novelty of actually being true." Jeremiah mused.

"I despise politics, but even I know that the best way to confuse someone is to tell at least part of the truth." Cornelia replied. She then turned her attention to Suzaku, who stiffened to attention.

"Private Kururugi, I am going to be blunt with you." she said slowly, "I _do not _like or trust Numbers. I never have since my siblings were declared MIA in this area, and that dislike has gotten somewhat worse since Clovis was murdered.

However, you were friends with Lelouch and Nunnally. You have given my sister and I hope that we will be able to meet them once again. In addition, you have displayed great loyalty to Britannia in returning after Zero released you from that idiot Kewell's dog and pony show. Consider yourself promoted to Warrant Officer, Second Class as a reward."

Suzaku's face displayed his shock at this sudden elevation. He had just been jumped _six entire ranks_ from Private to the lowest rank of Warrant Officer, something that usually took a Number decades of loyal service to achieve.

"Th-Thank you, Your Highness." he stammered out.

"Don't thank me." replied the new Viceroy of Area 11, "It does mean a lot more paperwork for you. Higher ranks _always_ mean more paperwork."

"I think I can handle it." Suzaku replied dryly, "At least it'll give Lloyd plenty of time to finish the upgrades he promised to make on the Lancelot."

"Yes, yes, I take the hint." Lloyd sighed, "Cecile, draw the parts when we get back to the Hanger."

"Right." Cecile pulled out a pad and made a note.

"Suzaku, I am curious." Euphemia said, "When was the last time you were in school?"

Suzaku appeared startled by the question. "Umm…not since before the invasion. Afterwards, the was no point. Numbers do not get many job opportunities that require qualifications." he replied warily.

"Well, that won't do!" the pinkette huffed to the amusement of her sister.

"Ah, Euphy's going into 'mother hen mode'." Cornelia chuckled, "Been a while since she's done this."

"Huh?" Suzaku said in a perplexed manner.

"Once she decides someone needs something, she becomes more determined than me in my Gloucester." the Viceroy explained wryly.

"Jeremiah," Euphy said, ignoring her sister's ribbing as she turned to the Margrave, "What is the most liberal High School in Tokyo?"

"Ashford Academy." Jeremiah replied instantly, "I believe that Reuben Ashford is the Dean. You may recall him from when he used to bring his granddaughter to the Aries Villa for play dates with Prince Lelouch."

"Oh yes. Millicent." Euphy smiled, "I'll go and have a word with him tomorrow. Ms. Cecile, kindly requisition three sets of Ashford Academy's uniform in Suzaku's size by the day after tomorrow."

"Yes, Your Highness." Cecile said as she scribbled down yet another note on her memo pad.

"I believe that is everything we can cover tonight." Cornelia said firmly, "You are all dismissed."

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Same Time**

**Lelouch's Room, Ashford Academy Student Clubhouse**

Lelouch grinned as he removed the headphones he had on his head. The hidden microphone that he had instructed Jeremiah to install in Clovis' painting of himself, Nunnally and their mother worked like a charm. He could hear everything that transpired in the office, which would provide a vital tool for spying on Cornelia's operations.

He smirked at Suzaku's likely reaction to being sent back to school after a seven-year absence. A little payback for being such a stubborn fool.

'_Well, at least Nunnally will get to have him visit more often. That ought to soften up the blow for Suzaku. Boy is he going to be surprised._' Lelouch thought as he made his way to the dining room.

C.C. was sat at the dining room table, helping herself to a pizza when Lelouch walked in. She went through those like a beaver through wood.

'_Pizza Hut must love her._' Lelouch thought dryly.

The immortal was wearing some hip-hugging shorts, a t-shirt and knee-high boots that, in Lelouch's esteemed opinion, made her look sexy as hell.

"Finished spying on your sisters?" the green haired immortal asked as the exiled prince stole a slice of pizza from her and took a seat as he bit into it.

"Yes. Everything is going according to plan." Lelouch said after he swallowed the mouthful of cheese and tomato, "Cornelia was impressed enough with Jeremiah to assign command of the search to him and Suzaku stirred up Euphy's mother hen instinct and he's coming to school here the day after tomorrow."

C.C. arched an eyebrow. "Time for my big debut then?" she asked.

"I think so." agreed Lelouch, "Suzaku needs a serious reality adjustment and I'd say the best person to give him one is you. Once I've convinced him to not run to the Viceroy, anyway."

"Is he really so naïve as you make him out to be?" C.C. asked.

"Unfortunately, he is." Lelouch said, almost growling as he recalled Suzaku's self-righteous and utterly defeatist words the previous day.

Shaking his head, he changed the subject. "Have you thought about your disguise?" he asked. The immortal had been avoiding giving him a definite answer for the last couple of days.

"Oh, yes. Here." The immortal reached into a bag that Lelouch hadn't seen until now, drew out a manila folder, and passed it to Lelouch, who flipped it open and scanned the contents briefly.

"This is…interesting." He said finally, "A juxtaposition of contrasts?"

"Also thumbing my nose at Charles." C.C. confirmed, "The mask is something only he and V.V. will recognise. It will make my position to them absolutely clear beyond any shadow of a doubt."

The immortal chewed her pizza thoughtfully for a moment before asking, "I take it Sayoko gave you Shūrin then?"

"Yes, she did. She came all the way to the junkyard in order to give it to me." Lelouch answered warily, "Why do you ask?"

"It's a particular part of the oath she swore to you." C.C. replied, "She first swears the oath, then gives you the sword. She hasn't completed the final part though."

"Which is?" the ebon-haired young man asked warily. His danger meter, so astute at alerting him to Milly's pranks, was going haywire right now.

"She has to give her body to you." the immortal said diffidently.

"You're joking." Lelouch said blankly.

"Seriously." C.C. said, "It's an relatively unknown aspect of the Loyalty Oath that she gave you, one that only applies to kunoichi."

"There is _no_ way in _hell_ I am going to _force_ her-" Lelouch started heatedly.

"Do you really think that Sayoko didn't know about that portion of the Oath when she swore herself to you?" C.C. interrupted him, "Just off of the top of my head, I can think of at _least_ half-a-dozen different oaths that would leave out such a requirement, ones that I am certain that Sayoko knows of as well, yet she chose to swear that _particular_ one. Can you think why?"

Lelouch was stunned for a moment before his brain kicked into gear and, with it's usual efficiency, began exploring reasons for Sayoko willingly swearing such an oath to him. Less than five seconds later, several answers popped into his head.

He did not like what the most likely answer was.

"She likes me?" Lelouch asked slowly, disbelief colouring his voice.

"Bingo!" C.C. clapped her hands sarcastically, "Give the man a coconut."

"Be serious C.C.!" Lelouch snapped.

"I am." C.C. shot back, "It has been obvious to me from the moment she made that Oath that Sayoko likes you. How you missed the signs is beyond me, but the point stands: Sayoko swore the Oath to you with full knowledge of what it required of her because she likes you."

Lelouch regarded his lover with a dubious look in his eyes. "And you're willing to let her sleep with me? Just like that?" he asked carefully.

C.C. snorted. "Lelouch, I am immortal. Over the centuries, I have seen many relationships, although I haven't partaken in any of them…until now. Anyway, the point is that I am technically your mistress, correct?"

"Yes~~" Lelouch said slowly.

"Well, Sayoko is your sworn liege-woman with whom you sleep with occasionally as a confirmation of your oaths to one another." C.C. explained in a very matter-of-fact manner, "Her relationship with you will be equal to and separate from mine to you. See?"

The exiled prince continued staring at C.C. for a moment before massaging his temples with an exasperated expression on his face. "C.C., are you determined to drive me up the wall?" he asked softly.

"Only if you don't stop being an idiot." C.C. replied with a victorious smirk, "Besides, it isn't all that much of a chore, is it? Sleeping with not one, but _two_ gorgeous girls simultaneously. Most boys would kill to have such good luck."

"Most boys aren't planning to topple the Superpower that dominates most of the globe." Lelouch pointed out dryly.

"A point." C.C. conceded, "But I would give you the benefit of my several centuries of experience at this juncture. Care to listen?"

"As you wish, _Augur_." Lelouch regally inclined his head as he called her by his code-name for her for the first time.

"Why thank you, _Lord Zero_." C.C. said with a smile, "My advice is this: The life of a mortal is too short, fleeting and fragile to spend wondering about ifs or maybes. Sayoko _likes_ you and wants you. You like her and I don't think you are adverse to the idea of sleeping with her. Your main issue with the concept seems to stem from the idea that she was being _forced_ to do this by an Oath. You now know that isn't the case."

"True." Lelouch admitted reluctantly.

"The other sticking point is your idea that such an arrangement between Sayoko and yourself would anger me." C.C. said with a mocking smile, "As I just told you, it will not. As long as you remember to treat both of us as equals."

Lelouch sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll give it some thought, OK?"

"Good boy." C.C. looked like a cat that had just drank an entire bowl of cream, "I knew you could be trained."

Lelouch glared at her before helping himself to another slice of pizza.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Next Chapter: White Knight and Black Prince**


	18. White Knight and Black Prince

**Author's Note: Hello my faithful readers and welcome to the latest instalment of The Prepared Rebellion.**

**I do apologise for the length of time these chapters take to write, but that is because I refuse to skimp on quality. If I write something, it's gonna be written well, damn it.**

**I have come to a decision regarding the harem. I feel it impractical and somewhat hard to accomplish to have Lelouch sleep with ****all**** of them in the Prepared Rebellion, so he will only sleep with C.C., Sayoko, Euphy, Kallen and Kaguya in this book. He will then get Villetta, Shirley and Milly in the Rebellion Reforged.**

**I'm sorry if you disapprove, but them's the breaks.**

**On with the Fic!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass. I would like to, but then again I also want to get uninterrupted sleep at the weekends. I live in hope.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 12: White Knight and Black Prince**

**Timeskip - Two Days Later - 08.00 am**

**Lelouch's Room, Ashford Academy Student Council Clubhouse**

Lelouch smiled as he reviewed the data on his computer. As he had expected, Cornelia had left all bureaucratic work to Euphy and started the arduous task of kicking the Area 11 military into shape.

'_After being left to their own devices by Clovis for all this time, they are getting run into the ground by Cornelia. I'm willing to bet that the generals and unit commanders are cursing Zero for this._' Lelouch thought with a grin. Cornelia was a _slavedriver_.

Using Clovis' backdoor password, he had infiltrated the Administration Building's network and sown a dozen viruses here and there that would cause general confusion for a while.

The viruses included misfiling documents in the wrong files, randomly shutting down consoles that people were working on and, his personal favourite, changed all screensavers to Zero's mask, which ought to freak the staff out a bit.

He had also created his own backdoor program in the Viceroy's personal network, which protocol dictated would be the only one not to be scrubbed after his viruses came online in a week's time.

"That smile does not bode well for someone." C.C. commented from her position under the covers. The immortal enjoyed being physically close to people, so often spent the night in his bed, even when they did not indulge in each other's bodies.

"Suzaku is coming to school today." he reminded his paramour, "You had better get dressed or you'll be late."

C.C. pouted at him, but threw the sheets off and walked to the shower, putting some extra sway to her hips to entice Lelouch as he watched her walk to the shower.

Lelouch smirked as C.C. entered the bathroom and closed the door. He was no pervert or letch by any means, but he did appreciate the fine figure of his partner when she was kind enough to show it to him.

Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the reports flowing across his terminal's screen. Cornelia seemed to be demoting a fair few of the high command in Area 11 on grounds of gross incompetence, misappropriation of military funding…and was that a charge of Desertion in the Face of the Enemy? _That_ Captain was dead meat.

"Lelouch-sama, there is a message from Miss Milly." Sayoko called from the living room, making Lelouch stiffen in his seat uncomfortably.

He had spent the last day in quiet contemplation of what C.C. had revealed to him about Sayoko, the oath she had sworn and the reasons why she swore it. He had thought long and hard on it and had concluded that if neither C.C. nor Sayoko saw anything wrong with him sleeping with them both, then any resistance he could put up was utterly pointless.

Fortunately, his mind was able to consider many things at once, so as he walked to Sayoko, he considered the other thing he had been considering.

His and Sayoko's Geass abilities.

Sayoko had been practicing using her Geass while Lelouch and C.C. had been 'otherwise engaged' and had reported a couple of discoveries to him.

- She did not require looking into her target's eyes in order to use her Geass, but she did have to see her target.

-In a crowd, the conflicting auras gave her a minor migraine and she could not use her ability with any degree of success.

Lelouch, on the other hand, had discovered far more limitations to his own Geass.

- He had to issue all of his commands verbally, limiting him to a maximum range of 272 meters when combined with the restriction of needing to look into the eyes of his target.

- He had confirmed, via discretely Geassing a teacher that was retiring soon, that his Geass only works once per individual. He could issue as many commands to a person as he liked during the initial set-up, but only as long as eye contact is not broken.

- Any memories for the duration of the command are sealed and cannot be recalled, unless he specifically orders that they _become_ unsealed.

- Villetta was proof that a Geass Command can last a considerable time, but he had discreetly Geassed a first year student to make a mark on a specific wall once a day, if she was in Ashford Academy, as a duration test.

"Here is the message, Lelouch-sama." Sayoko's voice brought him out of his mental review. She was holding a notepad out to him.

"Thanks Sayoko." he said, taking the pad with a nod of thanks and started to read it. A smirk found its way across his face. All preparations had been made.

Time for the curtain to rise on the next act.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip - 1 Hour Later**

**Lelouch's Classroom, Ashford Academy**

"Settle down, settle down." the teacher said in a monotone. He was an old man due to retire in a month and was just going through the motions until he could wash his hands of the little rich brats and this school.

The class, which had been quiet before he spoke, just looked at him with various expressions of boredom.

"Ahem!" he cleared his throat, "We have a transfer student arriving in this class today. I would _appreciate it_-" He gave the class a half-glare, half exasperated expression, "-if you could all _not_ cause a fuss by his identity. Come in!"

The door opened and Suzaku Kururugi stepped through the door, prompting a frenzied whispering among the class.

"An _Eleven _at _our_ school?!" one whispered to her neighbour.

"He was accused of killing Prince Clovis!" another whispered, "He shouldn't be allowed near _any_ nobility! What if he does something?"

Kallen was discreetly glaring at the Honorary Britannian. She felt sick at being so close to someone who bowed willingly to Britannian rule without so much as making an effort at resisting them.

'_Patience, Kallen_' she told herself, '_Zero told us to lie low for a while until he had some new equipment ready for us. As much as I'd like to beat some sense into this fool, I won't compromise myself for the likes of him._'

Suzaku took a seat and the lesson went on, with most of the class regarding the boy warily out of the corner of their eyes. Nina wore a terrified expression and moved as far from him as she could.

When the class ended, the teacher frowned as the vice-principal came and passed a file to him before having a discussion in a quiet voice, which seemed to generate a considerable amount of irritation in the old man.

Sighing in exasperation, the class' teacher turned back towards the class when the vice-principal left, his face sour. "Alright class, it appears we have _yet_ _another_ transfer student, who was held up elsewhere this morning and has only just arrived. Come in please." the teacher said grumpily.

The door slid open and the person who stepped through made Suzaku's eyes widen. A girl with vibrant green hair, stunning agate eyes and a lithe, svelte body strode in as regally as any princess.

"Introduce yourself to the class if you would." the teacher instructed. The girl nodded and turned to face the class.

"I am Celesta Crossfield." she said in a melodious voice, "But my friends call me C.C., so I would ask that you do the same."

The whispers of the boys were slightly lecherous now, and the girls' whispers had the hard edge of jealousy. Before anything else could be said, the bell rang.

Lelouch abruptly stood up and walked to the door, Suzaku's eyes following him. He paused at the door and tugged at his collar with a frown before he left.

Suzaku's eyes widened as he recognised the sign, but forced himself to wait a few minutes before also getting up to follow him. C.C. merely smirked as she also waited a while before trailing elegantly after the two boys.

**Up on the Roof of Ashford Academy…**

Lelouch leaned on the stone railing that surrounded the only part of the roof of Ashford Academy that the students could go for an open-air lunch. Suzaku definitely recognised the signal, so he ought to be here any minute.

Almost exactly when he predicted, the door creaked open to admit Suzaku, who then walked over to him. Lelouch turned around, leaned on the railing and grinned at Suzaku.

"Seven years since we used this signal." he said, tugging on his collar again.

"'Meet on the roof.'" Suzaku translated with a small grin of his own, "Just like the old days. I'm glad you got out of there in one piece."

"It wasn't easy, but I managed it, thanks to you." Lelouch replied with a shrug, "The military didn't help things -they were slaughtering anything that moved."

"What?!" Suzaku exclaimed, "That can't be right! The reports say-"

"A pack of _complete_ lies." Lelouch interrupted pointedly, "The Purebloods placed the entire blame on the Japanese Terrorists -and you! - in order to try and disassemble the Honorary Britannian System in Area 11."

"How'd you know that?" Suzaku asked.

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies." Lelouch replied mysteriously, "Suffice is to say, I have my ways of knowing when a royal presence will be popping up near Ashford Academy so Nunnally and I can hide. She was worried about you by the way."

"Nunnally." Suzaku whispered, remembering Lelouch's kind, gentle little sister, "How is she?"

"She's plagued by fevers every so often, but other than that, she's fine." Lelouch assured his friend, "I'd appreciate it if you could come over after school and visit her. She really was very concerned about you. Thank god Zero showed up when he did and admitted he killed my murderous half-sibling."

"Lelouch, Clovis was your _brother_!" Suzaku hissed, glancing around to make sure nobody was around to hear their conversation.

"He ordered a _massacre_, Suzaku." Lelouch retorted, "If the public had found out, he would have been crucified by the media circus, never mind what would have happened if they found out about his little pet project."

"Oh yeah!" Suzaku abruptly remembered the green haired girl, "Why the heck is she here? Should I arrange to have her taken into protective custody?"

"No, she mistrusts the Army, which is nothing personal against you though. I'm sheltering her from the small portion of the Britannian Army that's after her." Lelouch replied, "After all, who would expect a fugitive to hide out in a premier educational facility for the Nobility?"

"About as much as they'd expect a missing prince and princess to be here as well." Suzaku conceded, "That reminds me, what is it I should call you now?"

"We abandoned our royal names when we left you seven years ago, and we were officially declared dead after the invasion." Lelouch replied, "Nunnally and I are now Lelouch and Nunnally Lamperouge, the last members of the _very_ minor House of Lamperouge."

Lelouch grinned ironically, as he spoke. Neighbouring families had absorbed the Barony of Lamperouge after his mother's death, and the title had been officially abolished upon the 'deaths' of himself and Nunnally. Keeping the name had been spitting in the eye of their father for the vi Britannia siblings.

"What about you? Why're you enrolled here?" Lelouch asked. He actually knew why, but it was best to keep things moving as if he did not.

"Well, I'm just as surprised as you are actually." Suzaku confessed with an embarrassed chuckle, "You know how your sisters are the new Viceroy and Sub-Viceroy?"

"Yep. Nellie and Euphy." Lelouch confirmed, "Don't tell me; Euphy went into Mother-Hen Mode and decided you needed to go to high school?"

"Got it in one." Suzaku replied, "You should know that they both think you are alive, thanks to Lord Jeremiah. He's been searching for you for seven years."

Lelouch put a frown across his face. "Jeremiah…Jeremiah Gottwald? He was a guard at the Aries Villa. He helped Nunnally get away from that brat Carina on more than one occasion. Damn, that means he knows what I look like. I'll have to step up my security for this…" he trailed off into mutters as Suzaku looked on in amusement.

'_I'm glad that Lelouch hasn't changed much since seven years ago, leaving the fact he actually exercises to one side._' Suzaku thought with a chuckle, '_Todoh-sensei wouldn't believe his ears if he found out that Lelouch actually listened to him…eventually!_'

"Can I come out now, Lelouch?" a bored voice called from the stairway, drawing the attention of both boys. C.C. stepped out from behind the door and strode over to Lelouch, capturing his arm in a hug and snuggling in to him with a satisfied smile.

"Is there anything you wanna tell me Lelouch?" Suzaku raised his eyebrows suggestively at Lelouch and his new arm ornament.

"I'm his mistress." C.C. replied, "A fact I would ask that you keep to yourself. Lelouch is the subject of crushes of most of the girls here and I'd rather not have to deal with their silly antagonism."

She extended a hand and Suzaku took it and shook it firmly before releasing it.

"Gotcha." Suzaku replied with a chuckle, "Looks like Kaguya isn't the only girl that you entranced since coming here, Lelouch."

"Don't remind me." Lelouch muttered as he recalled being chased by the little black-haired terror that had been Kaguya Sumeragi, "How is she, by the way?"

"I haven't heard from the rest of my family since I joined the military two years ago." Suzaku confessed, "But when last I heard from her, she was doing OK."

"Speaking of the military, what are you doing for them?" Lelouch asked.

"Oh, I…can't really say." Suzaku replied uncomfortably, "I work with engineers now. That's about all I can tell you."

"So, you work with Camelot?" Lelouch said decisively.

Suzaku gaped soundlessly at Lelouch before shaking his head slowly. "How you found that out, I don't wanna know, do I?"

"Please see my previous statement regarding asking questions and telling lies." Lelouch replied, "But I will confess that I only came across that titbit by coincidence while looking for other data. Anyway, are you gonna come over and see Nunnally?"

"Of course!" Suzaku replied. There was no way he was going to miss the chance to see his other friend from seven years ago.

"Good." Lelouch said approvingly, "Now, what do you want for dinner?"

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip - End of the School Day**

**Corridor in Ashford Academy**

Lelouch had sped off after class to get things ready for the impromptu party they were going to have and had asked 'Celesta' to show Suzaku the way to the siblings' home.

The silence as they walked was uncomfortable and Suzaku was about to break it with some inane conversation when the greenette did it first.

"You are a startlingly naïve person, aren't you?" she said languidly.

"I'm sorry?" he asked, taken aback at this odd remark.

"You could have stayed with Zero when he rescued you." C.C. replied, "Your family publicly cut its ties with you, so they wouldn't be suspected of aiding you, and I doubt the Britannians would bother looking for a single Eleven in the Ghettos, so why did you go back?"

"Because I didn't want to give the likes of Kewell the satisfaction of being right." Suzaku replied, "The system can work for people, and I plan to change it from within, so that those like Zero will not be needed."

"Fool." C.C. said softly, "Even if you could change the system from within, the corruption within Britannia would corrupt _you_ long before _you_ change _it_."

"Japan lost, Britannia won." Suzaku replied woodenly, "We have no alternative but to use the system available to us."

"And what of those who still dream of a Japan independent of Britannia? What of those who raise the banner of rebellion against the system? What of those who feel that they _cannot_ use the system?" C.C. asked slowly.

"They need to be brought down for the good of all." Suzaku replied instantly, "No change made by violence and against the will of the majority is a change made for the good."

C.C. shook her head once. "I do not know why you pursue an ever-distant ideal such as this but it will grant you nothing more or less than pain and sorrow in the end. Take it from me, I know." she told the Honorary Britannian, "I tried to change the world for the better and ended up experimented on by that bastard of a prince."

"What did you do?" Suzaku asked. Her voice convinced him that she spoke the truth.

"Nothing that you would either understand or be willing to accept." C.C. replied, "We're almost there, so let's end this conversation…for the moment."

The immortal sped up slightly, leaving a confused and slightly irritated Suzaku in her wake.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip - Ten Minutes later**

**Lamperouge Dining Room**

The reunion between Suzaku and Nunnally had been exactly as heart-warming as Lelouch had predicted. Nunnally had cried when she realised the hand she held belonged to Suzaku and she had monopolised him ever since.

C.C. had merely led Suzaku to the dining room and then vanished, probably into Lelouch's room, so she didn't have to explain her presence to Nunnally, who she had been avoiding for some reason.

"Suzaku, can you stay the night? Please?" Nunnally asked him as they ate an excellent Japanese-style meal that both Lelouch and Sayoko had collaborated to cook.

"Suzaku is a student at Ashford now Nunnally." Lelouch told her gently, "He'll be in school when his duties as a soldier allow him to be."

"Oh…so you're…still a soldier?" Nunnally asked Suzaku quietly.

"In the Engineering Corps." Suzaku replied, "For the short-term, I'll be here almost every day. My new commander is _very_ laid back and the engineering project that is being worked on right now is getting some new parts added to it, so I have nothing to do there at the moment anyway."

"That's a good boss you have there." Lelouch noted as he grabbed the empty teapot and stood to re-fill it.

"Oh, let me-" Suzaku started to say.

"Sit down Suzaku." Lelouch told him firmly, "Unlike seven years ago, _we_ are the hosts this time."

Suzaku smiled wryly. It was true. Their initial positions had been totally reversed. He was _their_ guest this time around.

The evening continued until it was time for Suzaku to return home.

"Lelouch, I think we should keep a distance from each other at school." Suzaku told him at the front door.

"I can see why you'd think that, but Milly, the Student Council President, has already made plans to invite you into the Student Council." Lelouch told is surprised friend wryly, "There's no point resisting, as she'll get her way come hell or high-water. The best thing for you to do here is bow to the inevitable and follow the path of least resistance. It'll save you unnecessary headaches, take it from me."

"Ooookay." Suzaku said slowly, "Well then, I will see what she has in mind for me, although I'm sure you're just exaggerating here. Catch you later."

"Later." Lelouch echoed as he watched his friend run off into the growing darkness.

Once Suzaku was out of sight, Lelouch closed the door and activated the building's security system before heading to his room. C.C. was flicking through a magazine on the bed when he walked in.

"So, did you enjoy spending time with the White Knight?" C.C. asked casually.

Lelouch cocked an eyebrow at the immortal. "Why call him that?" he asked.

"Because he is determined to do the right and just thing, even if it means hurting himself and his cause in the process." C.C. replied, "Although he will refuse to get his hands dirty in the process, even if it would advance his cause and save more than by his own methods."

"And you know this…how exactly?" Lelouch enquired archly.

"With physical contact with another person, I can scan their minds, their psyche and get a good grasp of who they are as a person." C.C. explained, "Remember when I shook his hand? I did a small scan then."

"I see." Lelouch said. He sat at his computer terminal and booted it up. He scanned the latest information from his worms in the Administration Building's mainframe and frowned.

"Cornelia's hitting the ground running." Lelouch said aloud, "Yesterday she annihilated the Mikado's Guardians Faction completely and today she destroyed the central base of the Blood of the Samurai Faction."

Both of those groups had been two of the largest resistance groups outside of the JLF.

"Who's the next target to be?" C.C. queried as she stood and walked over to drape her arms around him.

"Unknown." Lelouch replied, his frown deepening as he read on, "Meanwhile, Euphy is cleaning up the government with admirable alacrity. She's imprisoned, sacked or demoted at least fifty people in two days and has replaced them. She has also warned the replacements to do their jobs and not take bribes otherwise they'll be given the same treatment as their predecessors."

"Sounds like your second-favourite sister is doing a good job." C.C. commented as she played with a lock of Lelouch's hair.

"Quite. I'll admit the designation of Velvet Glove and Iron Fist is clichéd, but it is an admirable fit for Euphy and Cornelia." Lelouch said as he wrapped an arm around C.C.'s waist and pulled her closer to him.

C.C. flushed slightly. "A-Anything else new?" she asked, keeping most traces of her surprise out of her voice.

"Aside from a report from Jeremiah regarding the Knightmare parts, spares and Ammo I had him 'misplace' for me, no." Lelouch replied, "He left them in the designated warehouse and has forged the signature of a corrupt lackey in the Civil Administration Bureau that Euphy is due to review tomorrow on a document that authorised a sale of parts, spares and ammo to 'Private Enterprises'."

"Hmmm, that's evil." C.C. purred as she began to enjoy her partners touch, "The Black Prince is quite the appropriate moniker for you, lover boy."

"Whatever works." Lelouch replied as he shut down the terminal and tugged C.C. down onto his lap. The immortal giggled slightly as she wound her arms around her lover, "And I only got that nickname because I wore black in public a lot, although I _will_ admit it does suit my do-anything-to accomplish-my-goals attitude."

"Enough work and philosophy for now." she said breathily as she moved her face closer to Lelouch's, "Now it's time for some of the benefits of our relationship."

"Seductress." Lelouch accused with no rancour in his voice.

"The only _man_ I plan to seduce is you, Lelouch. Only you." she breathed as she captured his lips in a slow, deep kiss.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip - The Next Day, Lunchtime**

**Stairwell, Ashford Academy**

"Ohgi, I understand that the Blood of the Samurai Faction was destroyed yesterday." Lelouch said into his phone. He wasn't stupid and counting on the phone line to distort his voice; he had attached a voice changer to the mouthpiece so he didn't have to worry about that.

"_Y-Yes, they were. How'd you know that?_" Kaname Ohgi's voice was filled with surprise at his new leaders' knowledge.

"I have my sources that let me know such things." Lelouch replied, "You're worried about our group being attacked, aren't you?"

"_Well….yes, I have to admit I am._" Ohgi replied.

"My sources will let me know if an attack is planned against Base One." Lelouch reassured his new second in command. Base One was a glorified code name for a fixed up school building in Ikebukuro that Ohgi used to teach at, "At the moment, Cornelia's attention is turned to the outer Ghettos, so she's going to raid a group in the Tokyo Tama Ghetto today, I would think."

"_So, either the remnants of the Blood of the Samurai, or the Swords of the Ancestors Faction?_" Ohgi asked cautiously.

"Exactly." Lelouch replied, "I plan on giving a briefing of our future plans in the near future, so until then keep calm and don't let Tamaki do anything stupid."

"_Right._" Ohgi replied, his voice firm and confident once again, "_The usual time tomorrow?_"

"The usual time." Lelouch confirmed before ending the call, removing the voice changer and flipping his phone closed.

'_Ohgi is right to be concerned about Cornelia._' Lelouch thought with a frown, '_She just destroyed the two biggest resistance groups in Central Japan in two days. She's focussing on eliminating threats in and around the Tokyo Settlement first so she can have a secure base of operations, I would suspect._'

Cornelia was hot-headed, but was also cautious by the necessity of her chosen profession. She was well known for quoting, 'War is a struggle between Pride and Life' and took those words seriously. Unless another group enraged her, she was unlikely to shift from her target.

Better accelerate his own plans as well then.

Movement caught Lelouch's eye and he looked out of the window to see Suzaku busy washing something. The exiled prince's eyes narrowed as his old friend raised what appeared to be his gym shirt from the soapy water. It was clear why he was washing it, as it had a message written in red paint on it.

'GET BACK TO YOUR GHETTO, ELEVEN FILTH!'

Lelouch's anger began to build. How _dare_ someone treat his friend like that! Plans began to whirl in his mind on how to find out _exactly_ who the person responsible was and then Geass the fool into walking around the school naked.

He forced his anger down. Despite how he disliked Suzaku being discriminated against and bullied in such a petty way, he had to see the big picture. Suzaku had to see the dark side of Britannian Society, including the blatant racism and unthinking reaction of discrimination, they possessed if there was any hope of bringing him to his side.

'_He likely believes that only the military possesses such discrimination and that the rest of Britannian Society is as pure as driven snow._' Lelouch thought with exasperation at his old friend's naiveté, '_It really wouldn't surprise me if that really _is_ what he thinks. A dose of reality is just what the doctor ordered. The bullying will be mitigated somewhat by Milly inducting him into the Student Council anyway._'

Lelouch walked off, cheerfully imagining the mischief that Milly was going to inflict on his friend.

**Down in the courtyard…**

"ACHOO!" Suzaku sneezed before looking around, "Was someone just talking about me?….Nah."

Shrugging, the Honorary Britannian got back to trying to clean his gym shirt using soap, water and good old-fashioned hard work.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip - After School**

**Ballroom, Student Council Clubhouse**

Lelouch hung back as he observed the interactions between the Student Council and Suzaku. Milly was her usual cheerful self, teasing and being friendly with Suzaku. She wasn't the kind of person to discriminate against Numbers.

C.C., who had also been invited to join the council, was sat at a table devouring a pizza and hugging a stuffed toy she had won from all her purchases. She had, rather unoriginally, called it 'Cheese-kun'.

Shirley and Rivalz were cautiously friendly and were opening up as they got to know Suzaku, as Lelouch knew they would. Shirley, whilst innocent and naïve, was an open and friendly person, and Rivalz was the most unbiased person Lelouch had come across.

Nunnally was, of course, happily chatting away with Suzaku, which made Lelouch smile. If Suzaku being here had no other benefits, making his sister happy made it worthwhile.

Kallen was feigning interest, but was actually keeping her distance from Suzaku. Lelouch supposed that to her, Suzaku was a traitor to her country, so it was of little surprise that she avoided him.

The ebon haired boy looked off to the side and viewed the only major fly in the ointment. Nina Einstein was busy blocking out the world, and the Eleven in close proximity to her in particular, by focussing on typing away on the computer.

'_Time to intervene, I think._' Lelouch thought as he made his way to Nina's side.

"O-Oh, Lelouch." Nina stuttered out when she noticed him leaning against the wall to her right, "W-What's up?"

"Nina, why are you in Area 11?" Lelouch asked conversationally.

The resident genius of the Student Council looked taken aback at this question. "Because this is where my parents work?" she replied uncertainly.

"If they can afford to send you to Ashford, they could also afford to send you to a reasonably prestigious boarding school in the Homeland." Lelouch countered, "So again: Why are you here?"

Nina was confused. Where exactly was he going with this? "I'm not sure why you're asking me this, Vice-President." she temporised.

"Because I am actually worried for you Nina." Lelouch replied, drawing a surprised look from her, "Yes, worried. Because you cannot stand to be near a Number who was declared innocent of the crimes he was accused of. If you can't handle that now, in Ashford, how will you handle things after you graduate?"

"There must have been some basis for accusing him in the first place." Nina muttered stubbornly.

"Yes, my sources tell me it was because he was an Honorary Britannian. That was the basis for the prosecution's _entire_ case." Lelouch replied dryly, "Nina, he arrived back at the Mobile HQ a quarter of an hour after Prince Clovis died. It was, quite literally, _impossible_ for him to have done it."

"O-Oh…" Nina said, blushing in embarrassment, "W-Why are you so up in arms about this?"

"Because Suzaku saved my life in the Ghetto." Lelouch replied, drawing the attention of the rest of the council. Kallen especially looked interested.

"You were in Shinjuku during that mess?" she asked timidly.

"More like he got _hijacked_ into it by the terrorists, would you believe it?" Rivalz replied with a chuckle, "A truck crashed off the highway and Mr Busybody over here ran down to see if he could help. He was flung into the back of the truck when it drove off, because he was on the roof at the time. Talk about a hit and run."

"Wow." Kallen breathed. Internally, she was worried. Had he seen her? Would she have to kill him to keep her secret a secret? She deliberately avoided looking at Nunnally while these thoughts ran through her head.

"_Thank you_, Rivalz." Lelouch said sarcastically, "As always, you make me sound like the _epitome_ of manly endeavours."

"Just telling it how it is." Rivalz shot back with a grin.

"_Anyway_, I fell in then and landed behind some weird device of some kind. I hit my head during a particularly sudden swing and my memory gets fuzzy after that." Lelouch recounted with a wince, "The next thing I remember is a loud explosion. I staggered out from the truck, which had apparently crashed, and there were these men in the uniform of the Royal Guard lying on the floor -dead."

Suzaku wanted to interject here, but kept silent. Apparently, Lelouch had told the Council about being in Shinjuku before and was now making a story up to get them to be friends with Suzaku.

'_Lelouch never could stand people picking on his friends._' Suzaku thought ruefully.

Kallen meanwhile was relieved that Lelouch didn't remember her, but resolved to be more careful around him for a while, just in case.

"My head cleared rather quickly after that and I tried to get out of the Ghetto." Lelouch continued, "Unfortunately, a pair of soldiers spotted me and one took aim. The one that didn't evidently saw that I was dressed in a Britannian school uniform and stopped his partner from shooting me."

Lelouch looked pointedly as Suzaku, who blushed at the attention given to him by the Student Council.

"They got into a tussle and Suzaku's helmet got knocked off, which his how I recognised him." Lelouch concluded, "I made my way out of the Ghetto and got caught by some alert, but not trigger-happy, soldiers. The rest is uneventful."

"Suzaku, thanks for saving Lulu." Shirley said gratefully to him.

"Eh? Oh, no problem." Suzaku replied bashfully, "He wasn't a terrorist or anything. Hell, he wasn't even armed, so…"

He shrugged diffidently.

The Council focussed on Suzaku then thanking him and, in Milly's case, still teasing him mercilessly.

Nina looked between Lelouch and Suzaku for a moment, then sighed. "I'll…think about what you said, Vice-President." she said softly, "I can't promise anything. Numbers just…terrify me, but I will think about what you have said."

"That's all I ask, Nina." Lelouch replied equally as softly, "That's all I ask."

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip - 9.00 pm**

**Lelouch's Room**

Lelouch was finishing up his homework when a knock came at his door. He frowned. C.C. wouldn't knock, she'd just waltz in as if she owned the place.

"Sayoko? Is that you?" he called.

"Hai, Lelouch-sama." Sayoko's voice replied, a note of tension in her voice, "May I come in? I…have something I need to discuss with you."

Lelouch's eyes widened. He had a good idea what she wanted to talk about. He still hadn't made up his mind what to do about the situation with Sayoko and her oath to him yet. Perhaps a talk with her would be of more use than churning over C.C.'s words yet again.

"Of course." He called as he closed the book he had been writing in and swivelled his seat around. The door opened and Lelouch's eyes widened again at the sight before him.

Sayoko usually wore her maid uniforms that she had brought from her service with the Ashford family. When she had a day off, she wore demure clothing that blended in with the people around her and made her fade into the background as you would expect of someone descended from a ninja clan. What she was wearing now was _nothing_ like either of those outfits.

She wore a traditional _furisode_ (Long-Sleeved) kimono patterned black and silver, with moons and pinpricks that represented stars embroidered on it. Her feet were clad in traditional tabi that glided across the floor soundlessly as she walked and her hair was done up in an elegant bun, held in place by a pair of _kanzashi_ (Hair ornaments), that were a matching silver colour and were decorated with crescent moons at the tips.

All in all, Sayoko looked like she was about to go out for a traditional Japanese party of some sort, and the sight made Lelouch's heartbeat hasten as he watched her enter his room slowly and deliberately, which was likely her intent.

"Do I…look alright, Lelouch-sama?" Sayoko asked him shyly, her cheeks dusted with the light red colour of a blush.

He snapped out of his trance and replied, "You look…beautiful, Sayoko. Even more so than usual."

Lelouch cursed himself silently for his voice sounding slightly hoarse as his maid blushed even deeper at his compliment.

"Th-Thank you, Goshujin-sama." Sayoko said bashfully as she sat on the bed at his gesture.

"Now, what can I help you with?" Lelouch asked, having finally regained full control of his voice, sounding normal once again.

Sayoko fidgeted slightly where she sat. "Lelouch-sama…has C.C.-sama spoken with you, regarding my oath?" she asked timidly.

Lelouch nodded slowly. "Yes, yes she has." he replied, "I must confess to being…_startled_ somewhat as to the precise nature of the oath."

"Hardly surprising." the kunoichi replied, "Very few kunoichi swear the oath I have. And, of those who do swear it, precious few are ever fortunate to have decent master to swear it to."

"What's so special about it?" the exiled prince asked curiously.

"It's called the Life Oath, sometimes called the Oath of Gold." Sayoko replied, "It is something equivalent to a one-sided wedding vow for a kunoichi. The oath was created so a kunoichi who loved her master could bed him and bear his children when he either would not or could not marry her."

As she spoke, the maid's eyes gazed into Lelouch's own and he read the emotions in them with the greatest of ease. Sayoko loved him. She wanted to be with him and didn't care if she was seen as only a mistress like C.C. to the rest of the world. She was willing to do anything in order to be with him and damn the consequences.

Lelouch stood up and knelt before her, a hand reaching up to cup her cheek. "If this is against your will, I will not force you." he told her gently. He had to hear it spoken aloud by Sayoko herself. His own honour would not let him take an unwilling woman to his bed, regardless of duties owed.

Sayoko gave him a small smile. "I am yours, Lelouch-sama. I have been for three years. I was only waiting for the right moment to swear the oath. C.C.-sama merely provided the opening for me."

"And you don't mind my relationship with her?" Lelouch couldn't help but ask.

"You are a young man of noble blood, despite your distaste for it." Sayoko replied as she placed a soft hand on the one that caressed her cheek, "It is not uncommon for one of your station to have multiple mistresses in addition to at least one wife. Look at the Emperors of Japan. They all had at least three wives, goodness knows how many official mistresses, all in addition to seducing the palace staff.

I would be lying if I said I wouldn't be happy to be the only one you take to your bed, but C.C.-sama is a person I respect and trust, so I approve of her. All I ask is that you tell both C.C.-sama and myself before you take another woman to your bed."

Lelouch gave a small chuckle. "Considering everything, I would be a fool to add _more_." he said, "I think I will have my hands full with a seven hundred year old immortal and a kunoichi sharing my bed without adding _other_ women into the mix."

Joy blossomed in Sayoko at his implied acceptance of her, but she furrowed her brow at his last words. "What of Milly-sama, Shirley-sama and Kallen-sama?" she asked.

The exiled prince raised an eyebrow. "Milly is my childhood friend, Shirley is a friend and Kallen is a subordinate of mine in my rebellion." he replied, "Why would you bring them up?"

'_Ouch. Milly and Shirley just got 'friend-zoned'._' Sayoko winced internally.

"I merely point them out as you have already attracted two women." Sayoko said pointedly, "It is not implausible for those women close to you to also become drawn in by you."

"I do hope not." sighed Lelouch, "My nights are going to become tiring as it is."

"I certainly hope so." Sayoko said straight-faced, making Lelouch flush at the unsubtle innuendo.

"But, for now, leaving future problems to one side, I think it is time, Lelouch-sama." the ninja-maid continued, her face flushing again.

"C.C.?" Lelouch asked as he drew Sayoko to her feet.

"Sleeping in my room." she replied.

"That witch." Lelouch muttered without rancour, wrapping his free arm around Sayoko's waist and drawing her close to him, even as his other hand mover to cup her chin.

"I think this qualifies as magical, so I agree." Sayoko breathed.

"Just so." Lelouch murmured as he leaned forwards and captured the lips of his faithful maid in a kiss.

********** Insert Lemon Here! Please go to my Archive of Our Own Account for the Lemon!**********

The two lovers continued to enjoy each other for most of the rest of the night and fell asleep entwined together.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Code R Facility, Unknown Location**

The room was a laboratory of some sort. Pipes, tubes and machinery covered the room. One large glass tank was filled with a green, cloudy liquid and seemed to contain a human-like shape.

In front of the tank, two men in lab coats were examining readings on various gauges and noting the results.

"Tch. This sample is _awful_." one exclaimed in disgust, "The stress-level is rising far too quickly and it has rejected _several_ implants!"

"It's the best we have." the other replied as he wrote a figure down on his clipboard, "Our Agents were lucky to recover it before the army did."

"Humph." the first sniffed in distaste, "Did you hear about those rather interesting remains that were brought in from the Shinjuku Ghetto?"

"Oh, the Chinese Federation albino? Yeah, I did." the second tucked his clipboard under his arm as he turned to talk to his colleague, "Apparently the brain tissue samples show a significant divergence from the norm. Why?"

"If we could graft some of that samples brain tissue to this sample's brain, there's a chance that it could improve the success rate of mechanisation tenfold." the first expounded excitedly.

"Possibly." the second man allowed, "We'd have to run some tests first to see if such a thing is possible."

"Bring in some of those Eleven gutter trash." the first said dismissively, "It's not like anyone will miss them."

"May I remind you that we _no longer _have carte blanche to do as we please in Area Eleven anymore?" the second remonstrated the first, "Prince Clovis is dead and Princess Cornelia is not likely to be as…_open-minded_…as her younger brother. If she catches us, she'll shot us first and ask questions never."

"We have backing from the Emperor himself!" the first countered.

"And we _really_ want His Majesty to bother with spanking his daughter while he has an empire to run?" the second asked rhetorically, "No, caution is the order of the day. I'll instruct our agents to gradually and _circumspectly_ gather some samples from the Eleven populous, but _only_ in areas where Princess Cornelia hasn't been."

"Joseph, you really take the fun outta this job, y'know that?" The first man asked.

Joseph Fenette looked back at his colleague and shrugged. "Signing off on the daily readings of Test Subject #0075, Soresi, Kewell." Joseph signed his partner's clipboard and his partner signed his.

"I'd better catch some shuteye." Joseph yawned, "I have to get back home and visit my daughter soon."

"Little Shirley? How is she?"

"Oh fine, fine." Joseph said as they walked away, "Still has a crush on that 'Lulu' boy, but other than that…"

The door hissed shut behind them, leaving the mangled remains of the former Commander Kewell Soresi to float in his tank.

"_Ze…ro…_" came from the speakers built in to the tank that were connected to a microphone built-in to the breathing mask.

No-one heard him.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Next Chapter: Saitama Encirclement**

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**


	19. Saitama Encirclement

**Author's Note: Hello! I'm back people and I am sorry for being away for so long.**

**You see, I was writing my first original arc in my Naruko story and I didn't want to mess it up, so I focussed on writing that up first. My progress was impeded by the computer breaking down (costing me £25.00 to fix, thank you **_**very**_** much!) and then my houseguest was on the computer for most of the day, cutting the time I had to write in half, if not more.**

**Enough from me and on with the fic!**

**Disclaimer: Although it would be nice, I don't own Code Geass. Sorry.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 13: Saitama Encirclement**

**Timeskip - 1 Week Later, Early Morning**

**Knightmare Hanger, Area 11 Administration Building**

"…While other European countries stagnated, assailed by waves of people's revolutions and parliamentarization, England held fast to Absolute Monarchy…" Suzaku read aloud, then sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"It is going to take _forever_ for me to catch up with the material!" he sighed again before turning his head to look at Cecile Croomey, who sat to his left.

"Sorry that you have to watch me do my homework, Ms Cecile." The Honorary Britannian apologised.

"It's no problem, Suzaku." Cecile replied kindly, "You've never attended a regular school before, so it can't be avoided."

"I was tutored by the best money could buy before the invasion." Suzaku mused, "Afterwards, there was no point. No job that required qualifications would hire an Eleven, so I never got back into the studying habit…at least until Princess Euphemia pulled some strings to let me go to Ashford."

Cecile giggled. "Yes, that was quite the shock for you I expect."

"When Lelouch stayed with my family, he did say that she was unable to leave something alone once she saw something that needed changing or someone who needed help." Suzaku mused.

That was a barefaced lie of course. Lelouch had mentioned it just the other day when he had been invited over by the Lamperouge siblings for tea yet again, but he couldn't very well say _that_.

"Sounds like Her Highness hasn't changed that much since she was little." Cecile commented, "By the way, how are your schoolmates treating you?"

Suzaku flinched slightly, but resolutely shrugged. "As well as can be expected. The Student Council is the best of the lot. They've been giving me a lot of help with my schoolwork."

"I've been a little bit worried about you, to be perfectly honest with you." Cecile confessed, "Although it _is_ the most liberal school in Area 11, I was worried you weren't fitting in."

"Yeah, well I was expecting that as well, but I ran into an old acquaintance of sorts who helped smooth things over for me." Suzaku replied as he scribbled down another paragraph in his essay, which held the title, "The Fall of Mainland Europe to the Unwashed Masses was inevitable -Discuss".

Lelouch had subtly influenced the Student Council to lend him their aid when he had told them that altered version of their meeting in Shinjuku. Milly, Shirley and Rivalz were the main people that helped him. Nina was still scared of him and Kallen was too sickly to attend regularly. As for Celesta…

Suzaku allowed a small frown to cross his face when he thought of the green haired girl. She _irritated_ him like nothing else. She was acerbic, cynical and dismissive of his ideals. Overall, she reminded him a lot of Zero, the tone of contempt in her voice echoed that from the masked vigilante.

"Suzaku?" Cecile asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Suzaku smiled back at her, "There's a person on the Student Council who thinks my ideals are foolish and she irritates me a bit, that's all."

"Have you tried discussing it with her?" Cecile asked.

"Getting a proper conversation out of her is like trying to get blood from a _stone_, unless the conversation is on her terms." Suzaku replied wryly, "She blows me off unless it's for an activity in the Council."

"Oh my…" Cecile said, "By the sounds of it, you're just going to have to be patient and wait for her to bring the subject up with you."

"Yep." The Honorary Britannian agreed, "Which makes me even more irritated. The fact that she refused to let me explain why I feel the ideals I hold are right makes me wonder why she let me know she thought they were stupid in the first place."

"In order to make you _think_ about them, Private Kururugi." the ironic drawl of Lloyd Asplund spoke up from directly behind the two, making Suzaku and Cecile jump in fright.

"Lloyd! Stop doing that!" Cecile scolded her boss.

"I am sorry to break up this little bonding session you two have going, but I am afraid that Lancelot needs our help." the eccentric Earl said, "The last parts for the VARIS Rifle have arrived, and the Lancelot needs to be recalibrated to adjust for the new Cockpit Ejection System that you _begged_ me to install."

"Lloyd, you should have made the C.E.S. an integral part of the Lancelot from the get-go." Cecile pointed out for the nth time, "Instead, you spent most of the budget on the Sakuradite enhancements scattered around the body."

"Now Cecile, you have to admit that the sheer power of the Lancelot is more than compensation for the lack of a silly thing like a C.E.S." Lloyd riposted.

"Not when it puts the life of the _Devicer_ at risk!" Cecile argued back.

Suzaku watched in amusement as the two scientists began to squabble again like a comedy skit.

'_Today might be alright._' he thought as he broke up the storm in a teacup that was brewing.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Lelouch and Nunnally's Suite, Student Council Clubhouse, Ashford Academy**

Lelouch tapped away at the keyboard with a slight frown on his face. The data he had just received from his Knight, Jeremiah, was more than slightly troubling. Cornelia was moving a Mobile Battalion out, destination unknown, although the former Royal Guardsman promised to find out where the Princess was going to soon.

A Mobile Battalion was a component of an Army Group, which usually had at least three Mobile Battalions as part of its makeup. Area Eleven's Army Group had possessed six Mobile Battalions before Shinjuku. With the destruction of the Purebloods after Shinjuku, they had been down to five before Cornelia brought her personally trained soldiers, the Fifth Mobile Battalion, in as reinforcements.

Now those reinforcements were being sent…somewhere.

'_Cornelia is famous for mistrusting soldiers that she hasn't trained herself._' Lelouch considered, '_In fact, she has even _less_ reason to trust Area 11's soldiery because they let her brother get killed under their watch. Now then, where is Cornelia attacking? Judging by the fact she is using Command G-1's to move the Knightmares, it can't be anywhere _too_ far away, which limits it to somewhere nearby…likely somewhere in the Greater Tokyo Area._'

The Exiled Prince was begrudgingly impressed with Cornelia's progress in her campaign to eliminate the large Resistance groups in the Ghettos. The Blood of the Samurai, Swords of the Ancestors and the Imperial Dragon Factions had been devastated in short order; the assaults bore all the hallmarks of Cornelia's work, swift, sudden and merciless.

Lelouch's eyebrows shot up as another datum, this time from a worm in the Area 11 Justice Department, appeared on his screen. Cornelia had pardoned the bridge crew of Clovis' G-1 and had assigned them to her personal Command G-1.

'_Of course. A trap._' Lelouch realised with a snort. Cornelia, thanks to Jeremiah, had a very good idea how 'Zero', a.k.a. Lelouch, had infiltrated Clovis' base of operations. She would likely set up a situation similar to Shinjuku in order to lure 'Zero' into the open, presuming that he was arrogant enough to try and get at Cornelia the same way he had gotten at Clovis.

He was _not_ that foolish. The only two things Cornelia and Clovis had in common was their shared father and their shared arrogance. His third favourite sister was highly intelligent, driven and highly cautious, nothing like the coward that had been Third Prince Clovis la Britannia.

So then, where was Cornelia going to strike? The Tokyo Tama Area was now barren of any possible prey. To the best of Lelouch's knowledge, there were only a couple of three-man cells in Kanagawa, certainly nothing to attract Cornelia's attention, which logically left only one possible target, assuming that the Viceroy was keeping with her MO.

Saitama. The location of the main base of the Yamato Alliance and one of the few Resistance groups left outside the JLF with over a hundred members.

Cornelia wouldn't want to alert Euphy to her plan, as her gentle little sister would kick up a hell of a fuss about this if she ever found out what Cornelia had planned…

An evil smile crossed Lelouch's face. '_Yes, she _would_, wouldn't she?_'

The sinister smile remaining spread across his face, Lelouch picked up his phone and hit a series of numbers he had memorised before putting the phone to his ear.

"Hello, Jeremiah? Yes, I have gone through your latest data packet." He stopped and listened to his Knight for a moment before the smirk widened ever so slightly.

"Saitama? Yes, I had just figured that out." Lelouch replied, "I have come up with a plan that will make my counter-attack on Cornelia very much more effective. This is what I'd like for you to do…"

After explaining his plan to Jeremiah, Lelouch hung up, withdrew a voice changer from his drawer and clipped it onto his phone before calling the next number on his list.

"_Yes?_" a tense female voice answered the phone almost as soon as the phone began to ring.

"Q-1, are you ready for a mission?" Lelouch asked.

"_Of course!_" Kallen's voice had overtones of relief and eagerness in it. She must be _really_ tired of Ashford after over a week of consecutive attendance.

"Excellent. Rendezvous with Ohgi at position G-H-5 in about two hours. Come prepared for a Knightmare battle." Lelouch ordered briskly. He then hung up and called Ohgi, issuing similar orders before rising from his chair and called for Sayoko.

"Hai, Goshujin-sama?" Sayoko appeared out of nowhere at his summoning. Lelouch, despite having anticipated her doing that, jumped slightly in surprise when she appeared.

"Ah, Sayoko." Lelouch said, recovering from his shock almost instantly, "Kindly grab my outfit, as well as C.C.'s and your own. Today we go to the battlefield!"

"By your command." Sayoko bowed at Lelouch before vanishing. One moment she was there, then he blinked and she was gone. Shaking his head as he wondered exactly how she managed to accomplish the whole disappear/reappear act for the umpteenth time, Lelouch walked off to visit Nunnally.

"Nunnally?" Lelouch called, knocking on her door.

"Yes, Big Brother?" Nunnally called from within her bedroom.

Lelouch opened the door and walked over to his sister, who was sitting in her wheelchair, 'reading' a Braille-book.

"Nunnally, one of my fellow investors has managed to get himself into a spot of bother." Lelouch told her, using one of the excuses he had created for just this kind of instance, "The other party is demanding that all the investors of the project, including me, show up in person to sort it out, so Sayoko and myself are going to be gone all day."

"Oh." Nunnally's face fell, "Will you be back in time for dinner?"

"I honestly don't know." Lelouch replied, "If I arrive back that late, I'll give Milly a ring and you can spend the night at her house. Shirley might even join you and make it a girl's night in."

"That would be nice." Nunnally smiled. She really liked Shirley, treating her like an honorary older sister, "Be careful on your trip, Big Brother. With Zero around, you can't be too careful."

Lelouch planted a small kiss on the crown on Nunnally's head, making her giggle as he murmured, "I'll be careful, but I think Zero has more on his mind than me at the moment, Nuna."

As he walked out, he pulled out his phone and called Milly, making arrangements for her to pick up Nunnally and have her spend the night with Milly and Shirley.

"So what's this I hear about us going off to the battlefield?" C.C. asked, arms akimbo and a mild glare on her face as she faced her contractor in his room. She was dressed in a pair of flared trousers, sandals, t-shirt and a sun hat.

"Cornelia has all but broadcast her intent to trap Zero." Lelouch replied with a small grin, "With such an obvious invitation, it would be rude not to show up, wouldn't it?"

The Immortal raised an eyebrow at Lelouch. "You're plotting something, aren't you?" she half asked, half stated.

"I'm a former member of Britannian Royalty; plotting is in the blood." Lelouch replied airily, "I'll fill you and Sayoko in en route, so don't worry."

He hastily added the last bit in after he caught the danger signs appearing on his lover's countenance. The one time he had made her angry had taught him very well that the female of the species was _definitely_ more deadly than the male.

"Good." C.C. said, relaxing somewhat, "Now, where is Sayoko?"

"Right here, C.C.-sama." the Kunoichi responded from right behind her, making the green-haired girl yelp in surprise.

"Dammit, Sayoko!" C.C. shouted, "Don't _do _that!"

"My apologies." Sayoko said smoothly, her face utterly bland, but Lelouch got the impression that his maid-slash-bodyguard was very much enjoying snapping the immortal out of her usual unreachable ever-distant attitude and placing her among the mere mortals again, at least for a moment.

"All ready?" Lelouch interjected, hopefully before the fur began to fly between his two lovers. They didn't really fight, not really. They did come close when they made up the rota that determined who shared his bed each night, but they had managed to sort things out without coming to blows. Other than a few snippy words, the two women were on reasonably good terms with each other.

"Hai." Sayoko replied, "The suitcases are next to the elevator in the basement. I assume that we will be using Theta Bases' transportation?"

"Indeed we are." Lelouch grinned again, "I think that we should show our new allies a grand entrance, courtesy of Zero, Aegis and Augur."

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip - Two Hours Later**

**The Ruins of Furinkan High School, Nerima Ghetto**

"Where the hell is he then?" Tamaki demanded belligerently.

"How should I know?!" Ohgi snapped back irritably. The Resistance group had made their way to this old school at Zero's request and he wasn't even here, meaning Tamaki was starting to grouse and complain (again).

They were currently hanging around in the staff office, for lack of anywhere better to hang out. Fortunately, thanks to the earthquakes that were frequent in the area, the school's structure was still fairly solid, so there wasn't much chance that the ruins would collapse without due cause.

Quite why there was the skeleton of an alligator with a collar engraved with 'Miss Turtle' in the entrance hall was beyond all comprehension.

"Be patient for once, Tamaki." Kallen rebuked, "He said _around_ two hours and it's only a couple of minutes past the hour now."

The hotheaded man opened his mouth to fire back a scathing rejoinder, but was interrupted by Kallen's phone going off. All attention in the room went to Kallen, who quite nonchalantly answered it.

"Yes?" Kallen asked calmly.

"_Q-1, I heard Tamaki-san once again, so I presume you are there as well?_" Zero's rather amused voice said in her ear.

Casting a glare at Tamaki, Kallen said, "Yes, we are all here, Zero. Where are you?"

"_Come to the Auditorium. All will be made clear once you are there._" Zero promised her, before hanging up.

"So, to judge by the look you are giving Tamaki, I take it Zero is nearby and heard him?" Ohgi asked, with a trace of amusement in his voice.

"Yes." Kallen replied stonily, "We're to go to the Auditorium. That's where 'all will be made clear', apparently."

Ohgi looked at Tamaki with a frown. "Tamaki, you are going to have to keep your voice down in area's that aren't our hideout. You could jeopardise the entire team during a mission if you don't."

Tamaki sulked at the chastisement as they all trooped down the stairs and towards the Auditorium. Kallen rolled her eyes at his continued immaturity. She was the teenager around here, not him!

As they entered the large room, all of the lights snapped on, temporarily blinding them. When their eyes adjusted, they saw Zero standing in the centre of the room, and he wasn't alone.

To his left stood a figure clad in white. The clothes greatly resembled old European steel armour in form. A gleaming cuirass, marked with a red symbol that resembled the one on the purse Zero had given Kallen, guarded the front and back of the figure, a pair of faulds hanging from it to protect the waist and hips. A delicate looking pair of gauntlets sheathed the hands and a set of pauldrons encased the shoulders. The lower legs had a set of greaves protecting them. A white cloak hung from the shoulders and fell to mid-calf on the figure.

However, it was the helmet the figure wore that drew attention. It was a customised burgonet helm, encompassing the entire head, with a high crest at its peak. The face was obscured with a mask that was very bizarre. It had a single eye, which ended the similarity to a normal human face, the majority of the rest being taken up by red lines. A red circle in the dead centre of the mask, overlapped by a smaller circle and lines extruding from them both. The single eye was outlined in red, with a circle just beneath it. One final circle was on the chin area and extended a line that looped around the central circle and stopping just short of its origin.

The other figure was far more mysterious. Wearing a cape and cowl, the entire body was concealed from sight. In the shadow of the overhanging cowl, a white mask was just visable, but no details could be seen from where the resistance members currently stood.

"Greetings." Zero's voice boomed across the Auditorium, "It is good to see you all once again."

"Zero." Ohgi nodded in greeting, "Who are your…friends?"

"Ah yes, pardon my manners." Zero said with a short bow, "On my left is Aegis, on my right is Augur. They are two of my…associates…and have deigned to accompany me today in order to ensure our victory."

Kallen shivered as Zero's voice spoke the word 'victory' with an almost loving caress, as if he was intimately familiar with winning.

"What is the mission, Zero?" Ohgi asked.

"I have received word that Viceroy Cornelia plans on re-enacting the Shinjuku Massacre in the Saitama Ghetto." Zero stated bluntly, provoking a loud outcry from the resistance members.

Tamaki was as red as his hair as he shouted various expletives about the Viceroy. Inoue and Yoshida were arguing with each other over what to do, while Minami's face drained of blood as he imagined a repeat of the Shinjuku Massacre.

Kallen and Ohgi, murder running through their heads, merely waited for Zero to continue, their eyes narrowed at the masked man.

After a moment, the masked vigilante raised a hand to signal for quiet, which fell after a moment of Tamaki swearing like a sailor.

"Interesting combination, Tamaki-san." Zero commented, "Although I believe that _particular_ combination is physically impossible, even with lube."

Tamaki flushed in embarrassment.

"Moving on, the Viceroy's purported reason for attacking Saitama is to destroy the Yamato Alliance." the masked man continued, "Ohgi, what do you know about them?"

Ohgi tilted his head to one side before saying, "Well…they are a large group, at least a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty, strong. Nothing like the size of the JLF, but still fairly impressive."

"They are also venal, cowardly bullies who use their limited skills in combat to extort food, money and other supplies from the people in the Ghetto." Kallen interjected, "They are only barely considered members of the Resistance, rather than bandits, because they occasionally raid Britannian storage warehouses and distribute the spoils to the rest of the Ghetto."

"That's true." Ohgi allowed, "In terms of fighting skills, they are mostly guerrillas. No formal military training amongst them and they fight with each other almost as much as they fight the Britannians. There have been over a dozen leadership changes in the Yamato Alliance this year alone."

"I see." Zero's voice was hard to read through the voice changer, but Kallen thought she could hear disappointment in those two words, "Well, I can't expect two lucky strikes, I suppose."

"What do you mean?" Inoue asked.

"Your group is skilled and knows how to work together properly." Zero replied bluntly, "I was hoping the Yamato Alliance would be more…useful, to be blunt, but evidently I have to work with sub-quality material this time. It is somewhat of a disappointment that your group seems to be the only group that functions as a proper unit, rather than a rabble."

"Goshujin-sama, that was quite rude." an unmistakably female voice reproached Zero from beneath the shadowed cowl of the second new figure -Aegis, Kallen reminded herself harshly- although the voice was still scrambled by a voice changer.

"Indeed." Zero nodded at his associate, "I do not mean to disparage the Resistance in general, I am merely expressing my relief that this group chose to join me, as I fear relying on the Yamato Alliance to complete this operation would lead to disaster."

"What's the plan?" Kallen asked.

"We are going to save the Japanese residents of the Saitama Ghetto and tweak Cornelia's nose while we are at it." Zero told them, eliciting grins from the group.

"Zero, you said that Cornelia's _purported_ reason for this atrocity is the destruction of the Yamato Alliance." Ohgi said, "What's her real objective?"

"She seeks to lure me into a trap." Zero replied, "She is using herself as bait while assuming I am arrogant enough to attempt to get to her the same way that I got to Clovis. Honestly, I am rather insulted that she thinks so little of my intelligence that she assumes that I would use the same tactic against a veteran soldier like her. Clovis had weakened his guard, which was one reason why I was able to slip through what remained. She will _not_ make that mistake."

"All this, just to try and trap you?" Kallen asked, "Why? I can understand if she wants to send a message to the resistance to not mess with her, but why try and trap you almost from the get-go?"

Zero nodded at her approvingly. "An excellent question, Kallen. The answer is that, out of the entire Britannian Royal Family, the one who holds the bonds of family closest to her heart is Cornelia. She loves her siblings and will not allow the death of one to pass unchallenged. Simply put, she's out for revenge."

"Who knew, a Brit with a heart." Tamaki sneered.

"Tamaki-san, remember that the Britannian commoners are heavily influenced by propaganda from the cradle to the grave." Zero chided, "Their parents attitudes, their schoolwork, even the news is all geared towards the same message; that Britannians are superior to any and all other cultures and peoples. They are as much a product of the machination of the true enemy as you are."

"'The true enemy'?" Ohgi asked, "And who would that be?"

"The Britannian Aristocracy and Imperial Family." Zero replied, "Ultimately, it is _they_ who we must defeat in order to truly defeat Britannia."

Kallen agreed with Zero's analysis of Britannia. People like her _ever so loving_ (not!) stepmother were a great part of the problem, as was the Imperial Family. Combined, the two created a stranglehold on almost every aspect of Britannian law and policy.

"Zero, while this is interesting, we should be heading for Saitama." Augur spoke up, her voice concealed similarly to her companions.

"Very true." Zero acknowledged, "Follow me then. Our transport awaits."

With that, the three masked figures turned and headed towards a side door, which made Kallen facepalm.

"Damn it, they came from the side we couldn't see from the office!" Kallen cursed eloquently for a moment before adding, "We are going to _have_ to be more careful. If Zero could do this, so could the Britannians."

"Yeah, you're right." Ohgi agreed.

As they followed Zero and his two companions through the door, they Resistance group were surprised to see a truck that had to be twice the size of the one that Nagata and Kallen had ridden on that fateful day over a week ago.

"Wow. Where'd you get the wheels?" Minami asked, eyes wide.

"It is sometimes surprising how many Noble families are somewhat lax with their business' security." Zero remarked in reply, "Why, they don't even pay their very few security staff enough."

The Resistance took that to mean that Zero had bribed a security guard and stolen the thing.

"Once we are en-route, I will begin briefing you all on what parts you shall all play in the mission today." Zero told them as Augur removed a remote from a hidden pocket and pressed a button, causing the side door of the back of the truck to slide open, revealing three Knightmares.

All were Sutherlands, the only difference being their colour schemes. One was black, with gold trimming, the second was a gleaming silver and the last was a brilliant crimson. The grin on Kallen's face as she saw the crimson Sutherland was a feral one that made Tamaki edge away from her warily.

Once Aegis started the truck up and Augur closed the door, the black masked man began his briefing.

"The division of labour will be thus: Team 1 -myself, Augur and Kallen- will run interference with the Britannians by aiding the Yamato Alliance against them. Meanwhile Team 2, the rest of you plus Aegis, will be helping evacuate the non-combatants from the Shinjuku Ghetto via the subway tunnels and the sewer system." Zero said.

"Wait, you're actually going to walk _into _the trap that Cornelia's setting for you?" Kallen asked incredulously.

"A trap that one is aware of and has the means to escape isn't a trap at all." Zero replied, "Rather, it becomes a trap for the one setting it. In this case, we'll be able to use Cornelia's expectations against her."

"Sounds good." Ohgi said, "And your backup plan?"

"Very good Ohgi, you're catching on quickly." Zero said with a nod, "If things go badly, Team 1 will abandon our Knightmares and evacuate via the sewers and Team 2, who will have hopefully evacuated before any shooting begins, shall evacuate via the subway tunnels in this truck."

"Goshujin-sama…!" Aegis' voice protested via a speaker. Evidently, the driver had been listening to Zero's briefing via microphones in the back of the truck.

"Aegis, my orders stand." Zero said evenly, "Augur and Kallen will be right next to me the entire time, so I will be perfectly fine."

"You had better protect my master, Augur." Aegis said softly.

"I will, Aegis." Augur replied, "I have as much interest in keeping him alive as you do, remember?"

Kallen was curious at the statement Augur had just made, but her mind latched on to the trust that Zero was putting in her. She finally had a chance to fight by Zero's side and determine if he has the combat skills to back up his strategic mind.

'_This will be interesting._' the redheaded girl thought. Zero was trusting her to keep him safe while he directed the battle. _Her_.

'_Will he win? Can he defeat another member of the Imperial Family?_' Kallen wondered as Zero gave each member of Team 2 an assignment. The truck shuddered slightly

'_If he can, what then?_' the seductive voice in her head whispered, '_He has made the impossible possible. He killed Prince Clovis, avenged the death of Naoto-nii-sama, broke the Purebloods and rescued that expatriate Kururugi. He has done all of this. What will you do if he can do more than _that_, Kallen Kōzuki?_'

The Britannian/Japanese half-blood had no answer for herself. She wasn't certain of how she felt for the masked man, except that she greatly admired him for his actions in Shinjuku and when he told her the location of her brother's body. Admiration, gratitude…he was intriguing as well, almost his entire personal history a mystery, other that the sole fact he had watched as his mother gunned down from behind.

"Alright then, now you all have your orders." Zero announced, bringing Kallen's attention back to her leader, "Any questions?"

"Yeah, are we gonna kill Cornelia?" Tamaki asked.

"No, we are not." Zero replied, "For one thing, it would bring the full military weight of Britannia down on us. Clovis I got away with killing because the Emperor has quite a few sons and Clovis was the most disposable of the lot, as evidenced by his placement in a 'dead-end' Area like Japan. Cornelia is the Second Princess and is the Chief General of the Imperial Army. I would be unable to get away with killing her without massive civilian casualties as the Army launched attacks on the civilian populous by way of reprisal.

For another, I plan to eventually capture her. She will be a veritable fount of information on the Britannian military around the world, as well as on various members of the Imperial Court."

"Makes sense." Ohgi mused, "Alright everyone, let's get to it!"

"Goshujin-sama, we have arrived at the drop point." Aegis announced via the speakers.

"Augur the doors if you please." Zero invited. His compatriot snorted at him and pressed the remote again, sliding the door open to reveal a ladder leading up to a manhole.

"Remember, the truck will be parked at point H-8." Zero reminded the rest of the group as they clambered out.

"Good luck, Zero, Kallen." Ohgi said as he left last.

"I prefer to think I make my own luck, but I appreciate the sentiment." Zero replied. As the Resistance group clambered up the ladder, Aegis appeared next to Zero.

"Kindly be careful, Goshujin-sama." she said quietly.

"You have my word." Zero replied equally quietly. Aegis nodded and headed towards the ladder. Auger got out wordlessly and headed towards the cab.

Zero turned to Kallen. "Well now Kallen, we had better get our Knightmares warmed up. The enemy awaits us."

Kallen grinned, her eyes alight with eagerness. "Right!"

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Next Chapter: The Saitama Gambit**

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Author's Note: That, as they say, is that. Not a terribly long chapter, but hopefully it will whet your appetites for the moment.**


	20. The Saitama Gambit

**Author's Note: I am sorry for the lack of updates, but the last couple of weeks have been an immensely emotional upheaval for me.**

**My Grandmother passed away on the 24****th**** of August at the age of 88 and I literally couldn't write anything. It took me a few days to be able to finish off the Zero no Tsukaima chapter I had started the day before she passed away.**

**After that, I took some days to mourn before I started this chapter, but after my Grandmother was cremated, I locked up again.**

**I finally began the final stretch for this chapter two days ago and I hope you all understand why the wait for it was so long.**

**I will be updating the previous chapter of The Prepared Rebellion to correct any spelling mistakes or inexplicably missing text (how I missed that bit at the end of the last chapter is beyond me), so please reread everything this time next week and let me know if I missed anything.**

**Kindly read and review!**

**Disclaimer: Code Geass is not my property.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 14: The Saitama Gambit**

**Timeskip - 30 Minutes Later**

**Outside the Yamato Alliance Headquarters, Abandoned Building, Former Minami Ward, Saitama Ghetto**

The group of shouting men and women that stood arguing in the ruins of the abandoned swimming pool building were making enough noise that someone standing half a mile away from the building could hear them, Lelouch reflected with wry amusement as he stood in his Zero disguise next to his raven-black Sutherland Knightmare.

C.C. had been sent to keep watch for Cornelia's forces in her own silver Sutherland, while Lelouch and Kallen had headed for the place that Resistance scuttlebutt had purported the Yamato Alliance's main meeting place to be.

"Do you have everything you need?" he enquired of Kallen who had also dismounted from her own brand new crimson Sutherland. She was going in to make the preliminary contact with the people who were rather loosely in charge of the Yamato Alliance.

'_I despise agreeing with father about anything, but I do agree with him about democracies._' Lelouch thought to himself as Kallen nodded stoically, '_Democracies are a mindless rabble that can topple a 'popular' leader as soon as public opinion turns against them. A war fought by committee is a war already lost….especially if the Yamato Alliance is just as sloppy in combat as their security procedures seem to be. We should have been challenged long before now!_'

"I'll be fine Zero." Kallen assured him, "I've dealt with them before when we -the resistance groups of the Greater Tokyo area- warned them about going too far with their protection racket. The JLF was making noises about 'cleaning house' in Tokyo if they weren't reined in, so we told them if they didn't start acting like guerrillas rather than bandits, we'd take all of their equipment and throw them bodily into the river."

"The equipment or the Yamato Alliance?" Lelouch asked wryly.

"The Alliance of course." Kallen replied blandly, "The equipment would have actually been of some use, unlike the members of the Yamato Alliance."

Lelouch had to stifle a chuckle. Kallen really didn't hold back when she talked about people she disliked or she felt had disgraced her country.

"Don't hold back Kallen. Tell me how you _really_ feel about them." Lelouch said dryly.

Kallen giggled slightly, and then looked mortified. "I-I should get going." she stuttered, her cheeks flushing red with embarrassment.

"I'll standby to intercede and extract you if necessary." Lelouch replied and gave her a small hairclip, "If you need me to extract you, smash this on something. It will sound an alarm in my helmet."

Kallen took the clip and looked it over. It was a small round clip, decorated with an enamelled four-leaf clover. She clipped back the bangs on the left side with it. She knew it didn't suit her, but it was best to keep such a device handy in case she needed it.

"Hmm…." Lelouch examined the clip carefully, "Black and gold next time, I think."

Kallen flushed again and began to walk towards the building quickly.

"Now then…" Lelouch muttered as he remounted his Knightmare, "Better move to a good position, just in case."

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Kallen**

As Kallen walked towards her destination, she forced her blush to recede from her cheeks though sheer willpower before putting on her game face. She couldn't risk the Yamato Alliance seeing any kind of weakness, or they'd try to do the whole we-outnumber-you-so-do-what-we-say routine.

Some of them had tried that tactic with her once before during the meeting she had mentioned to Zero, and that had caused Naoto and Ohgi to deal out a hefty beating to the ones responsible…_after_ she had kicked them into the wall a couple of times herself first, of course.

Snapping herself out of her memories, Kallen buried the instinctive wave of pain she felt whenever she remembered her beloved elder brother. Kallen had sworn that Britannia would _bleed_ for killing him, and she had done everything in her power to make good on that promise without compromising her morals, although the Shinjuku debacle had been pushing them to the limit.

'_At least Zero got rid of that foul stuff before anybody could die from it._' the redhead reassured herself. She shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if the canister had been breached.

"Hands up!" A familiar rough voice growled from her left, causing Kallen to halt.

"Tetsuya, stop acting tough." Kallen shot back, "You know very well who I am."

The man who stepped out of the shadow of the nearby wall sneered at her. His short blond hair was greasy and matted, his clothes filthy and little better than rags. His right arm was raised and pointing an old Japanese Army Type 94 Nambu 8mm pistol at Kallen's head.

"Yeah, I know who ya are Kallen." Tetsuya said, his sneer deepening, "Heard yer brother bought the farm. _Shame_, ain't it?"

Kallen ground her teeth at the poorly veiled taunt. Tetsuya Ichigyōmon had once been a member of her brother's resistance cell, but had been thrown out when he had been discovered bullying and extorting the ordinary residents of the Ghetto where they hid out. He had joined up with the Yamato Alliance and had thrived amongst them.

All scum float to the top after all, and the Yamato Alliance was full of the very worst of the former Japanese society, consisting of Yakuza, footpads and thieves.

"The Rising Sun has fallen behind clouds." the half-blood Japanese spat at her former comrade.

"The Light of Heavens will cleave the Darkness imprisoning it." Tetsuya countered, raising his eyebrow at the particular code she used.

"Ascending into the sky once again, ever victorious." Kallen finished, completing the resistance code that told Tetsuya to take her to his leaders, right now, no delays, or he would be in serious trouble.

"Yer serious?" the scruffy man asked incredulously, his aim with the pistol not wavering an inch, "Yeh want ta meet the Alliance Council?"

"Want to? No." Kallen replied, "Need to? Yes. Now stop being an idiot and lead me to them!"

Grumbling about upstart brats, Tetsuya reluctantly holstered his pistol -which was so caked with dirt and grease Kallen doubted it could do anything but blow up if the trigger was pulled- and beckoned her to follow him.

Weaving around fallen blocks of concrete and rusting metal, Kallen was led into the crumbling structure of the old swimming pool building. The place was just about ready to collapse to judge by the cracks in almost all the walls, floors and ceilings. Quite why this building was chosen for the headquarters of the Yamato Alliance was beyond Kallen's comprehension. She had seen several building en-route to here that were far more defensible and sturdy than this death trap derelict.

The shouting she had heard outside grew louder as Kallen and Tetsuya climbed some stairs and neared what had once been the balcony overlooking the pool. Two slightly less scruffy guards stood guard outside a room from which all of the shouting seemed to be coming from.

"Hey Tetsuya, who the hell's that?" one of the guard's asked from his slouched position against the wall.

"Naoto's little sister." Tetsuya replied, "She wants ta speak ta the Council 'bout sumpthin."

"Man, you shouldn't bother." the other guard opined, "Can't ya hear them? They've been arguing non-stop since reports came in that Cornelia was headed this way with a shitload of troops."

"That's why I'm here." Kallen said, her patience with these slobs being driven to the limit by their nonchalant discussion during a crisis, "I'm a messenger from Zero."

This brought the gazes of all three men back to her in disbelief.

"Yer kidding!" Tatsuya said in disbelief.

"No joke." Kallen shot back, "Ohgi passed leadership to him. Our group follows Zero. He sent me here to pass some intelligence to you leaders. Now stand aside and let me see them! Every second counts!"

The urgency in her voice seemed to communicate itself to the senior guard, who nodded.

"Right. One second." he told her before muttering into a Walkie-talkie for a moment. The door clicked and another man walked through whom Kallen recognised immediately.

"Mamoru-sensei?" Kallen said in surprise.

"Yo, Kallen-chan." Mamoru smiled. He was an old man, about 80 years old, his greying hair swept back into a short ponytail. His clothes were good quality and clean, if more than slightly worn.

Mamoru Takagahara had been the man who had taught Kallen the basics of Kobudō as a child, which she had steadily evolved into her own unique style that incorporated aspects of Karate, Aikido, Judo and Jujutsu, making for a versatile and deadly martial art.

"Tetsuya, return to your post. I'll escort Kallen-chan here to the Council." Mamoru told an indignant Tetsuya, who growled angrily before stomping away down the stairs, muttering a torrent of invectives as he did.

Kallen ignored Tetsuya and followed Mamoru through the door.

"Bet you're surprised to see me again, eh Kallen-chan?" her old sensei chuckled.

"In a resistance group? No." Kallen replied, "In _this_ resistance group? Definitely."

"Yes well, my old group, the Imperial Dragons faction, were wiped out by Cornelia." Mamoru told her as they walked, "I barely got away with my life intact."

As they walked into the balcony where the Council was meeting, Kallen was bombarded with a deluge of shouting voices from the six or so people standing around a rickety wooded table with an old map of Saitama spread across it.

"We have to move out now!" one man insisted, "If we can hold the Brits at the river-"

"We have no _Knightmares_, you idiot!" another upbraided him harshly, "What we have to do is lure them into the Ghetto and into ambushes!"

"That would cause a massacre, dipshit!" another man sneered, "The Ghetto's denizens would die in droves!"

"Well then what the hell are we gonna do then?" challenged the second man, "According to the spotters, an entire _Mobile Battalion _is heading this way!"

"I believe this young lady can throw some light on the situation." Mamoru interjected smoothly, drawing casual attention of everyone on the balcony.

"Ain't that Naoto Kōzuki's little sister?" one of them asked.

"Kallen." the redhead introduced herself dryly, "I'm a messenger for Zero."

"Zero!?" That little titbit gained the immediate and full attention of the room.

"OK then. Give your message." one directed.

"Is the entire council here?" Kallen asked, "I don't wanna have to do this multiple times."

"Now that Mamoru-san is back, we're all here." the self-elected spokesperson confirmed.

Kallen hitched an eyebrow at her old sensei in surprise. "You're on the council of the Yamato Alliance, sensei?"

"A mere honorary position." he said dismissively, "Now then Kallen, let's hear this message you have been sent to deliver."

Kallen pulled out a tape recorder and pressed play.

"_Greetings to the Council of the Yamato Alliance._" Zero's voice spoke from the speaker, "_I am Zero and I have come to lend you my aid. My emissary, Kallen Kōzuki, is my third in command and will communicate your decision of either acceptance or refusal to me. I offer this knowledge freely: Cornelia intends to re-enact the Shinjuku Massacre in the Saitama Ghetto._"

The recording paused during the outburst that followed. The pale faces from the shouting men around the table showed that they hadn't considered this particular scenario. Before panic could set in, the recording of Zero continued.

"_The reason she is doing this is in an effort to trap me. She presumes that I am stupid enough to attempt to get close to her in an effort to kill her as I did with Clovis._

_I will tell you now that I am not._

_This operation will end in disappointment for her, but if she is not corrected of her misapprehension, she will likely try to repeat it in other Ghettos, so I think that setting her straight here and now is the best thing for the Japanese people._"

"It's your fault that this is happening in the first place!" one of the council growled angrily when Zero's recorded voice paused again.

"Cornelia's been striking out at the resistance cells in the Greater Tokyo Area ever since she arrived." Mamoru pointed out, "She wasn't exactly discriminating between citizens of the Ghetto and members of the resistance when she stormed the Imperial Dragons' stronghold, but she never went out of her way to target non-combatants."

"Zero says that she wants to fully replicate the Shinjuku Massacre in order to ensure that Zero is drawn out." Kallen put in, "Zero won't stand for such a thing to happen."

The conviction in her voice silenced the others long enough for the recording to start again.

"_As Kallen might have already informed you, Kaname Ohgi has passed command of the cell founded by his friend Naoto Kōzuki to me. I have ordered the majority of the cell to begin evacuation of as much of Saitama as is possible before Cornelia and her Mobile battalion arrive, starting with the outermost area of the Ghetto. I hereby offer my services in defeating the Britannians, holding them off long enough for the majority of the Ghetto's residents to evacuate and scatter themselves to other Ghettos in the Greater Tokyo Area._

_The only condition to my help is that you all follow my orders until the mission is complete. Moreover, before you all start shouting and protesting, _think about it_! Under my command, Kallen's forty-man cell held off the Purebloods long enough for me to create a tactic to almost wipe them out. There are far more members of the Yamato Alliance, just think what you could accomplish against Cornelia if you follow my orders today."_

Many thoughtful looks appeared on the council's faces as they listened to Zero's recording. One or two of them looked indignant about following someone else's orders, but the majority seemed to at least tentatively believe Zero's words, Kallen noted with satisfaction.

"_I will now leave you to your deliberations with this last piece of information: with or without the aid of the Yamato Alliance, I plan on stopping Cornelia in Saitama. You can either follow my orders or evacuate with the civilians, as having three sides on a battlefield is a recipe for chaos. I trust you will all make the correct decision._"

With a 'click' that resounded through the now silent room, Kallen turned the machine off and stowed it in her pocket again.

Mamoru cleared his throat. "Right then. Zero has given his offer. I hereby open the floor to debate."

The room immediately erupted with people shouting, making Kallen sweatdrop.

'_Ohgi, I hope you're having a better time of this than me!_' the redhead thought as she and Mamoru exchanged a look of exasperation and began to try to restore order in the meeting.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Edge of the Ghetto, near the river.**

**With Ohgi….**

"Please move in a calm and orderly fashion!" Ohgi called as he directed an elderly couple into the stream of fleeing Ghetto residents. Around him, members of his group were entering and exiting various houses as they spread the warning of the impending attack.

It hadn't taken much to convince the people that a repeat of the Shinjuku massacre was going to happen if they stayed put, as a few friends who were Honorary Britannians had sent word that there had been a sharp rise in military activity within the settlement earlier that morning.

"Ohgi!" Sugiyama called, "That's almost everyone from this section. About a dozen or so have holed up in their rooms with guns and threatened to shoot us if we didn't go away."

Ohgi grimaced. Holdouts too stubborn, stupid, or both, to leave, just like in Shinjuku.

"Leave them." the former schoolteacher ordered, "We have to help those willing to evacuate. Make sure that Tamaki doest shoot his mouth of to the holdouts. The last thing we need is a casualty on a milk run like this."

"Gotcha!" Sugiyama started towards the building that presumably held the holdouts.

"How is the evacuation going?" a synthesised voice asked from behind him, making Ohgi jump in fright. He whirled around to see the cloaked form of Aegis standing calmly behind him.

"Don't do that!" Ohgi said with a frown, "As for your query, only holdouts are left here. The rest of the residents in this area are being evacuated via the old subway tunnels to either the former Nerima Ward or the former Itabashi Ward."

"Very good." Aegis, or at least the cowl that concealed...his? Her?…face, nodded, "I shall report this to Zero-sama. We should move on to the evacuation of the next area once you have escorted them to the tunnels."

"Right." Ohgi nodded and began issuing orders to his group as the cloaked figure reached under the cowl that concealed their features and depressed a small switch on the exterior of their helmet and spoke softly into the microphone.

"Goshujin-sama? Aegis here. The evacuation of the area where the Britannians are anticipated to make their initial sally is complete. We will move on to the next area shortly."

"_Excellent. Carry on Aegis. Zero, out._" came back almost at once.

Sayoko, beneath the helmet and cowl of Aegis, smiled grimly and moved to obey her master's orders, knowing that he was counting on her to fulfil her mission flawlessly.

She had never let him down before, and Sayoko did not intend to start now.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**The Office of the Sub-Viceroy, Area 11 Administration Building**

"Urgh!" Euphemia li Britannia groaned as she battled a foe that even her great and powerful sister feared: paperwork. Cornelia had, once again, run off to the battlefield, _conveniently_ forgetting completely about the large stack of paperwork that had accumulated on her desk while she had been on the battlefield.

Leaving her younger sister carrying the can in the meanwhile, which was _not_ appreciated by the aforementioned sibling.

"Sister or no Cornelia, I _will_ get you back for this!" the svelte pinkette growled cutely, bringing to mind a puppy trying to intimidate a fully grown dog, "What kind of punishment game is this!?"

'_How does my sister expect me to finish my sweep of the bureaucratic system of Area 11 if she keeps offloading _her_ work onto me!_' Euphy thought plaintively.

She was drawn out of her morose thoughts by a knock on the door. Shaking her head lightly to dispel the lingering mild depression that had come over her as she called out, "Enter!"

Jeremiah Gottwald and Villetta Nu walked through the door, each bearing even more paperwork in their arms, which made the usually cheerful princess groan in despair.

"Not more of it!" she almost begged the two Knights, who regarded her with undisguised sympathy.

"Unfortunately Your Highness, this is just the tip of the iceberg." Villetta informed Euphy, one side of her mouth twitching as she suppressed the urge to grin at the look of horror crossing the princess' face, "All of this is part of the paperwork that the Sub-Viceroy has to look over and approve so the actual Viceroy doesn't have to bother with it."

"But…but…I'm doing her job _as well!_" Euphemia wailed. She had fought the paperwork covering her desk for four hours solid and had only gotten through about a third of the massed series of forms. The princess was ready to break down into tears of frustration

Jeremiah nodded in agreement. "This is quite unfair on you, Your Highness." he said kindly, "How about Villetta and I take over for a while and you take a break? You have some personal mail from the Homeland that you can read while you relax. I ordered all of your mail delivered to your personal sitting room."

Euphy's face brightened, before becoming doubtful. "Are you sure that it's OK for me to do that?" she asked, "I don't want to do what my sister…the Viceroy did to me, after all."

"It's fine Your Highness." Villetta assured her, "I can get through a lot of the Sub-Viceroy's work easily as I used to have that job, while Lord Jeremiah can deal with the Viceroy's work. You look more than slightly frazzled and in need of a break."

"In which case, I will take you up on your offer of assistance." Euphy said gratefully and she rose, wincing at how stiff he was, "I'll be back in half an hour…make that forty five minutes…and we'll tackle the paperwork together and, hopefully, get it out of the way."

After a moment, she added, "And _then_ I will plot my revenge on my sister for doing this to me four times in a row!"

The glint of determination and steel in Euphemia's eyes reminded the two Knights considerably of the look in Lelouch's eyes when he became focussed on something he felt strongly about, which was hardly a surprise considering that they were siblings.

"I would say, Princess Euphemia," Jeremiah said carefully, "that your sister needs reminding that she has responsibilities that do not involve military matters, so I wish you the best with your plans."

Euphy beamed at him before heading for her private suite of rooms, leaving the two Knights to hunker down and begin to deal with the mountain of forms.

When she reached her private sitting room, Euphy stretched herself to relieve the stiffness in her back, before sitting at her favourite chair and ordering her personal maid to make her a pot of her favourite blend of tea.

While she waited, the pinkette turned her attention to the small pile of mail that Jeremiah had mentioned. Sighing, she started picking through them.

The first was a statement of her various bank accounts, investments and expenditures from her financial advisor, who also sent a copy to Cornelia. Euphy had been furious with her sister for ordering that at the time, but she was now resigned to it. Cornelia was overprotective and had the authority to enforce that protectiveness to every area of Euphy's life.

Next were the correspondences from those of her half-siblings that she kept in contact with. Odysseus, Schneizel, Castor and Pollux had sent their monthly letters and some of the news was interesting. Schneizel was heading to the front with the Euro Universe, as casualties were getting ridiculously large there.

Castor and Pollux were in charge of a Knightmare development facility in Area 4, the former Co-operative Republic of Guyana, and were eager to prove their designs superior to those of Schneizel's Camelot program.

Odysseus was organising the social season in Pendragon, with considerable interference from Guinevere and Carina. He confided to Euphy in his missive that half the difficulty in organising the social season's lengthy balls, banquets and sporting events was down to his two sisters constantly trying to focus the limelight on themselves.

"Poor Odysseus." Euphy giggled. She knew that, despite being the Heir Primus, he knew he was no match for Schneizel and everybody constantly criticized him for that fact. He still managed to act cheerful and upbeat to everyone despite this, performing his duties as First Prince of Britannia with a dignity that most were puzzled by.

"Now then…who is this from?" Euphy muttered as she regarded the last letter inquisitively as the maid delivered her tea. The envelope had her name written in an elegant cursive hand that positively smacked of a High Society upbringing and education. She didn't recognise the handwriting however.

Taking a sip of her tea, Euphy idly flipped the envelope over to see if the sender had written a return address. She wasn't worried that the letter was a bomb or anything, as the newly reinstated mail screening service had to have cleared the letter as safe to have made it this far.

Euphemia choked on her tea and only barely stopped herself from spitting her mouthful of hot beverage out when she saw a single number in the very centre of the back of the envelope.

'**0**'

Thoughts whirled through Euphy's head as she slowly laid her cup back on the saucer and turned her full attention to the envelope in her trembling hand.

'_Is this a prank? A joke? Or is this really from Zero?_' Euphy wondered to herself in a slight daze. She had no idea why Zero, the man who had killed Clovis and rescued Suzaku Kururugi from execution, would be writing to _her_ of all people.

After giving the envelope a wary look for a couple of minutes, Euphy took up her pure silver letter opener and carefully cut the top of the envelope open and drew out the letter within.

Hesitating with the letter in her hand, Euphy took a calming drink of tea before she unfolded the letter and began to read it.

"_To Princess Euphemia,_

_As you might suspect, I am indeed Zero. I am writing to you today for two reasons._

_The first is to let known to you my surprise -pleasant surprise of course- and admiration for your purge of corrupt officials in Japan. The lack of mercy you show them is refreshing, the punishments they receive are fair and they are just, which is surprising coming from a member of the Imperial Family._

_If Your Highness would forbear to listen to me, might I suggest that you turn your attention to the Police and Knightpolice, as they are paid so much in bribes from various Britannian Nobles and criminal cartels that they usually earn as much as a Captain in the Britannian Army per year, in addition to their normal salaries._"

Euphy was in shock at this. Zero -a terrorist, a murderer, and a regicide- was complimenting her work and directing her towards another bastion of corrupt officials. Shaking her head at the situation she found herself in, the princess continued to read Zero's missive.

"_The second item is, regrettably, far less pleasant to discuss and will be distressing for you to be told of. I beg your pardon in advance. You have probably been told that Cornelia is off destroying yet another resistance group, this time in the Saitama Ghetto._

_The truth of the matter is far more sinister. She actually plans to re-enact the Shinjuku Massacre, using the mass slaughter of unarmed, innocent Japanese citizens in order to lure me out and trap me._

_I will not fall for her trap naturally, but I will be going to Saitama to do all that I can to thwart her plans. I will not permit innocents to suffer at the hand of a tyrant. The question I would now pose to you however is a simple one._

_What do you plan to do with this information? Will you dither and do nothing? Will you settle for reprimanding your sister when she arrives back after the fact? Alternatively, will you act to save lives?_

_I trust that you will make the honourable choice, Your Highness._

_Yours in good faith,_

_Zero_"

As she read, Euphemia's already pale skin rapidly reached the colour of chalk as her horror mounted. The emotional part of her mind recoiled and wanted to deny what was written on the letter, but the logical part of her mind pointed out that, despite the fact she was currently unaware of what her sister was doing, it would be simple for her to find out.

The safeguards built into the computer system that contained the military data for all of Area 11 would not allow either the Viceroy or the Sub-Viceroy to be locked out of the system. That rule was hardwired into the core programming of the system. No one, not the Chief General of the Imperial Army or even the Emperor himself, could override it without formatting the computer itself, which would render the entire process a moot point.

Euphy unsteadily got to her feet and tottered unsteadily to the terminal on her desk that was a secure console that linked into the network and booted it up.

As she logged on and navigated the buildings intranet to the correct page automatically, she attempted to force her mind, which was currently a jumble of confused and tangled thoughts, feelings and impulses, into some vague semblance of order.

'_Sister knows how I feel about this! If she has…if she has done this…what will I do?_' This thought kept swirling through her mind as she worked.

Finally…

_AREA 11 MILITARY SLATE OF ORGANISATION AND EQUIPMENT_

_USERNAME: Pxg56hd432_

_PASSWORD: ********************_

…_ACCEPTED._

_- Garrison units_

_- Army Group Organisation_

_- Mobile Battalion Organisation_

_- Units currently on Active Deployment_

_- Disestablished Units_

_- Current stocks of Military Hardware and Supplies_

Selecting the third menu option, Euphy quickly scanned down the short list of units on active deployments. A Platoon on Hokkaido…a Platoon defending the Administration Building…a Mobile Battalion in Saitama!

Euphy hurriedly selected the Mobile Battalion, causing a new window to pop up on the screen, detailing the vital statistics of the unit.

_Fifth Mobile Battalion - [Pride of Victoria]_

_Current Commander: 2__nd__ Princess Cornelia, Area 11 Viceroy_

_Second in Command: Sir Dalton_

_Stated Mission: Operation Snake Pit [Classified, Eyes Only]_

_Mission Location: Saitama Ghetto_

_Current Status: In Transit_

"Operation Snake Pit?" Euphy murmured to herself, "That doesn't sound good."

Unfortunately, due to the 'Eyes Only' status of the operation, she would have to use her authority as Sub Viceroy in order to view it, which would be logged by the system and reported to Cornelia when she next logged on.

"She who dares, win." Euphy muttered as she used her authorisation to view the mission briefing. When the text flowed down the screen, Euphy blanched. There, in black and white, was the proof that Zero had told her the truth. Oh, it was wrapped up in double talk and soldier speak, but anyone who was at least halfway intelligent could decipher the briefing, which, just as Zero had said, called for the re-enactment of the Shinjuku massacre, right down to the casualties.

"…_the Saitama Ghetto is the perfect stage in which to enact Operation Snake Pit, as the deaths of the entire Eleven population of the Ghetto will only affect local Sakuradite production by 0.2%, well within acceptable parameters as laid down by the guidelines put forth by the Britannian Homeland, which precludes casualties in any single operation affecting any local production by more than 0.15%…_"

Euphemia li Britannia slumped forwards slightly, her belief in her sister ripped to shreds. Cornelia had probably deliberately dumped so much paperwork on her to keep her busy and unaware of the operation until it had been concluded. Had it not been for Zero's note and Jeremiah assisting her in her paperwork, the Princess doubted she would have ever known about it.

'_Cornelia would have labelled it as the blackest of Black Ops and placed it under a Viceroy's Eyes-Only Seal, effectively consigning it to a black hole as far as I would be concerned._' Euphy thought bitterly.

She had now found out that Zero had been right about her sister's intentions towards Saitama. The only thing left to do was to choose what to do about it. Zero had rather accurately predicted the three likeliest reactions that she would have: indecision, procrastination or immediate action.

She dismissed the first from her mind immediately, as it was both beneath the dignity of a Princess of Britannia and cowardly. She would not disgrace herself by choosing such an option.

The second choice gave her a bad taste in her mouth. While not as cowardly as the first choice, it practically screamed that she was powerless and unable to accomplish anything if her sister stood in her way. Euphy quickly dismissed that option.

With a sigh, Euphemia turned her attention to the last option. Choosing to exercise this option would mean acting against her sister directly, irrevocably damaging and changing the relationship between Cornelia and herself.

Yet Euphy acknowledged that if she was to keep to her principles and maintain her personal honour, she had no choice but to act. The _right_ choice and the _easy_ choice are usually two _separate_ choices after all.

Euphemia stood from her console, her petite hands clenched into small fists. Her eyes blazed with determination and never before had she looked so much like her elder blood sister. It was, perhaps, ironic that this likeness was caused by the decision to make a stand against said elder sister.

The pinkette quickly shut the console down before sweeping off towards her office, where she planned to conscript Villetta and Jeremiah to help her. She didn't know much about the older woman, but she knew that Jeremiah was devoted to the memory of Lady Marianne.

He would support any decision that she would have supported, and Euphy knew that Marianne 'The Flash' would have leapt into the fray sooner than this at the hint of something so dishonourable.

Quite what she would do, Euphemia didn't quite know yet, but hopefully a little brainstorming would yield some results.

Mind made up and face set in determination, Euphemia li Britannia marched forwards.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With C.C.**

The green haired immortal lounged indolently in her Knightmare's cockpit as she scanned the horizon using the Factsphere Sensor mounted on the machine's head. She had removed the helmet as no-one could see her inside the cockpit for goodness sake!

It was very boring acting as the lookout and C.C. dearly wished that the little brat Cornelia would hurry up and show herself already. She recalled seeing the young Cornelia walking around the Aries Villa, following Marianne around like a lovestruck puppy. Doubtless Charles would have removed all memory of any green haired immortals from the girl's mind, but that was all to the good as the two of them never had gotten along well.

'_Honestly, Marianne was surrounded by jealous little brats!_' C.C. scowled as she scanned the horizon yet again. It was true as well…that brother-complex obsessed brat V.V., Cornelia, several ladies in waiting…the list was long and full of irritating people.

A flash of movement caught C.C.'s eye and she used the Factsphere Sensor again. There! The three Command G-1's were just barely within sight.

C.C. reluctantly replaced her helmet before touching a button on the radio.

"Q-1, this is Augur. The party is about to start, so get the welcoming committee together." she said blandly

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Kallen**

Kallen had just about lost patience with the so-called Council of the Yamato Alliance. They had squabbled and argued for half an hour without coming to a resolution, when her radio spoke.

"_Q-1, this is Augur. The party is about to start, so kindly get the welcoming committee together._"

Kallen grimaced and unhooked the radio from her belt as the cacophony of voices fell silent.

"Roger that Auger. How many partygoers are there?" she asked.

"_Three big tops with stilt men, clown cars and trained birds. ETA forty-five minutes_" Augur replied.

"Great. We'll be sure to give them a big welcome. Q-1, out." Kallen replied.

"What was that code?" Mamoru asked.

"'Partygoers' refers to the Britannians." Kallen explained, "Big tops are Command G-1's, Stilt men are Knightmares, Clown cars are tanks and trained birds are VTOLs."

"So it really is a Mobile Battalion." Mamoru concluded, "Plus support elements."

"Shit! What're we gonna do?!" one man yelled.

"The choice was put in front of you half an hour ago!" Kallen growled irritably, "Either you accept Zero's command and fight or you run. A simple choice to make, yet you idiots can't seem to agree on white being white!"

"…! Why you-!" the man started to say, before Mamoru silenced him with a look.

"Kallen is correct." he said firmly, "We should make our choice. Either we stay and fight under Zero or we flee. No further debate. Those who wish to flee to the left; those who wish to stay and fight to the right. Move!"

The commanding tone in Mamoru's voice made the council move automatically, the majority moving to the right, with only two moving to the left.

"The majority votes in favour; the Yamato Alliance will fight under Zero's command." Mamoru said in satisfaction.

"Good." Kallen said and changed the frequency on her radio before putting it to her mouth.

"K-1, this is Q-1. The Yamato Alliance is on board. Awaiting further instructions."

"_Excellent news, Q-1._" Zero replied almost instantly, "_Tell them to assemble their forces and then assign them those code names as I previously directed. Augur is falling back from her overwatch point and will rendezvous with you as soon as she can. Contact me again once you have completed that task and I will assign them area's to defend while I grasp the tactics used by Cornelia. K-1, out._"

"Well that is easily accomplished." Mamoru said with a nod, "I recently reorganised the men into squads for ease of deployment."

"Let's get to it then." Kallen motioned to the door, "Call the troops together so we can brief them on their code names and the like. I'll need someone to act as a liaison between my cell and the Yamato Alliance. Mamoru-sensei?"

"If no-one else objects, then I would be honoured." Mamoru said genially, looking around for any objectors. Seeing that there was none, Kallen nodded in acknowledgement.

"Right then. Let's get this show on the road!" Kallen said decisively, "I want to be able to bash some Brits in half an hour!"

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch**

A grin crossed the face of Lelouch as he listened to Kallen via the hidden transmitter he had stashed in the clip he had given her. This way, he could actually listen to what people were saying in the meeting and be able to move in an instant should things go wrong.

Thankfully, it turned out to be an unnecessary precaution this time around, but it was better to be safe rather than sorry.

"She's a fiery one." He mused aloud as he listened to her declaration at the end of the meeting. She was very much similar to his mother, startlingly so. Brave, fierce, caring, compassionate and with willpower enough to stop a Knightmare in its tracks.

There were differences though. Marianne 'The Flash' was far more capable at hiding her emotions than Kallen was. The redhead was also far more reckless and impetuous than his mother had ever been, with a hair-trigger temper to boot.

Regardless, he felt…_intrigued_ by Kallen. There was something about her, a spark, which drew him to her, although he didn't wish to be. Lelouch knew that one of the worst things a commander could do was to become too attached to the troops he led, something he was already pushing with C.C. and Sayoko on the battlefield.

Another point was that it was a security risk for her to become too close to his Zero-persona. If she did, she might start noticing similarities between Zero and Lelouch, putting the entirety of his plan at risk. She was already slightly suspicious because of his Shinjuku Escape fairy tale, so adding any further suspicion to the mix would definitely be a bad thing.

Lelouch sighed when he recalled Sayoko pointing out that he had already attracted two women and that it wouldn't be odd for him to attract more. That was something easily dealt with, but he had never imagined that he would be the one attracted to another girl!

'_Damn hormones!_' the Exiled Prince grumbled to himself, '_I thought I had dealt with them with mind over matter and self-discipline, but no~~, I have to be hit with an overdose of them in my late teens as opposed to my early teens!_'

Even as one part of his mind focussed on bemoaning his romantic situation, the rest was busy focussing on the strategies he had constructed and making probability calculations about the likelihood of using each one.

Cornelia would have no idea what hit her.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Timeskip - Forty minutes later**

**The Bridge, Viceroy Cornelia's Personal Command G-1, Outskirts of Saitama Ghetto, Far bank of the Arakawa River**

"The Saitama Ghetto is completely surrounded." Sir Andreas Dalton informed his Princess. He was a brutal looking man, with light brown hair cut short, pitch black eyes and a diagonal scar across his face from a duel with Cornelia herself.

"The Yamato Alliance's hideout is somewhere in there." he continued, "Half of the Ghetto's residents are cooperating with them, although there is surprisingly little activity for the time of day."

"Interesting." Cornelia said with a piercing look, "What is the estimated affect on production?"

"Primary sector output should decrease by 0.2%." Dalton replied, aware that his Princess already knew this, but was asking just in case she had misremembered the figure.

'_Just as cautious as ever._' Dalton thought fondly. He was devoted to Princess Cornelia and would faithfully follow any order she issued without a seconds hesitation, just as Guilford and Dalton's own five adopted sons in the Glaston Knights would.

"Within expectations you mean." Cornelia said gruffly, inwardly pleased that, as always, Dalton had thoroughly researched the likely outcomes of an attack such as this. He had, in fact, spoken against this plan, citing its dishonourable nature, but that did not stop him from being the true professional soldier that he was.

"All right." Cornelia looked around the bridge with narrowed eyes, seeing the staff flinch at the scrutiny of the Second Princess, "All of you took part in the Shinjuku Debacle, correct?"

"Yes, Princes Cornelia." one man spoke up, "And we are indebted to you for your mercy for our laxity-"

"That's not what I'm asking!" Cornelia barked, "Are these conditions similar enough to Shinjuku for my purposes?"

"Huh?" the man gaped at Cornelia in shock.

"Dalton, send the message to the media to begin the bait." Cornelia ordered.

"Roger." Dalton tapped a couple of keys and within minutes, a report was being broadcast on all channels of the Viceroy's campaign against the degenerate Eleven terrorists in Saitama.

"Princess…you plan on using yourself as bait, don't you?" the man asked in awe.

Cornelia raised an eyebrow minutely, slightly impressed that the man had figured it out without having the entire plan spelt out for him. "Yes, that is precisely the plan. If Zero is as melodramatic and arrogant as his little public spectacle has made him appear, he will not be able to resist defeating and killing me as he did to Clovis."

A feral smile crept across Cornelia's face as she spoke the next line, "But this time, the hunter shall become the hunted. Zero will not get close to me as he did with Clovis, because I know _precisely_ how he did it the first time and have worked out a suitable countermeasure. He will pay _dearly_ for what he did to my brother, mark my words!"

The men stiffened to attention. "Yes, Your Highness!" they replied and began to busily issue orders and ready the troops for Cornelia's command.

The Second Princess looked a bit taken aback at how…ardent…the officers were being, until Dalton leaned over and whispered, "They feel the need to prove themselves, Your Highness. Zero made fools of them before and they wish to cleanse the stain on their honour that being defeated by him caused."

"They were outmatched against Zero, plain and simple." Cornelia replied in an undertone, "There is no shame in that. From all reports, it was Clovis and that fat fool Bartley panicking that caused excessive casualties." Cornelia was many things, but unfair was not one of them. At least when it came to judging officers who had been outmatched and outmanoeuvred like these ones had been.

"It doesn't change the fact that they want revenge, both for their defeat _and_ for Prince Clovis' death." Dalton replied.

"Very well." Cornelia acknowledged, "But if he does show up, Zero will likely defeat them again, you realise."

"The tougher the challenge, the more they will push themselves." Dalton replied.

Cornelia took a moment to ponder how men always seemed to regress into Neanderthals when their pride clouded their judgement before returning to the present.

"I will keep that in mind." Cornelia told her Knight as she strode into the centre of the bridge and issued the first order.

"I, Cornelia li Britannia, hereby order all troops: find and destroy the terrorist organisation known as the Yamato Alliance! Any and all methods are approved for this operation. In addition, any collaborators are to be summarily executed for treason against the Holy Empire of Britannia. All hail Britannia!"

On the tactical overview map, dozens of blue dots began moving in on the ruins of the once proud city of Saitama.

The Battle of Saitama had begun.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Next Chapter: The Wages of Sin: Hubris**

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**


	21. 14-5: Ashford Family Politics

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 14.5: Ashford Family Politics**

**Dean's Office, Ashford Academy**

"But mother!" Milly protested.

"_Millicent, this is your duty._" her mother replied down the phone, "_Do you not wish to see the Ashford Family returned to prominence?_"

"Yes I do!" Milly replied, "I do want the Ashfords to reclaim their status, but-"

"_But _nothing_ Millicent._" her mother said flatly, "_The negotiations are moving forward with the Asplund Family and that is unavoidable. Either accept it or do what I have been telling you to do for years; seduce and marry Marianne's eldest, then convince him to reveal himself to the Royal Family. That is the fastest route to restoring the Ashford Family._"

"And as I have been telling _you_ for years, _mother_, even _attempting_ to do so would irreparably damage the relationship Lelouch has with the Ashford Family." Milly snapped, "It might induce him to take Nunnally and vanish from our sight. He probably has a plan in place for dealing with this exact scenario! Lelouch is an honest-to-goodness _genius_, mother. Do not underestimate him or you will regret it."

"_Your infantile infatuation _blinds_ you, daughter. He is a man, easily controlled by his desires._" Her mother dismissed her concerns airily, "_Very well then. If you will not listen to reason, I shall continue the negotiations with the Asplund Family. Good Day._"

A slight click, followed by a low purring noise signalled to Milly that her mother had, rather abruptly, hung up on her. She slowly replaced the handset onto the cradle and looked at her grandfather, who sat behind his desk with a wry expression on his aged face.

Reuben Ashford was close on his eighty-eighth year and was rail thin. His once golden hair had faded to a pale snowy white and his face was deeply marked by lines and wrinkles. Nevertheless, his cornflower-blue eyes were still as sharp as ever, full of a deadly intelligence and sharp wit that had escaped his son, only to be inherited by his granddaughter.

"It seems Melisande is still controlling Roderick behind the scenes." Reuben remarked in a surprisingly deep voice for such a thin man, "What is your assessment, granddaughter?"

Melisande DeAmbury had married Roderick Ashford at the height of the Ashford's power and influence and had quickly become the power behind her weak-willed and guileless husband. She had tried numerous ploys to try to wrest the control of the Ashford Family from Reuben as soon as she and Roderick had returned from the honeymoon.

Needless to say, Reuben had held her off deftly. As savvy as she was, Melisande was impatient and hasty, a bad combination in any sort of politics. The best thing she had done was to give birth to Milly, who had inherited the best parts of the Ashford and DeAmbury bloodlines, a strong will and intelligence mixed with ambition and the ability to be absolutely ruthless when she needed to be.

The closeness between the Ashford Heiress and the eldest child of their most successful sponsored Knight, Marianne the Flash, had seemed to herald an ever closer relationship with the throne…right up until Marianne's murder and the subsequent exile of the Prince, swiftly followed by the Ashford Family's own self inflicted exile to the former nation of Japan.

Suffice to say, Melisande had _not_ been impressed by her undignified exile from Pendragon, and had been trying to get the Ashford Family back in Imperial favour ever since by trying to convince Lelouch to sacrifice himself on the alter of her ambition.

Lelouch, after deducing her plans at the age of thirteen, had threatened to sic Sayoko on the woman if she came within knife throwing range of either himself or Nunnally ever again. He hadn't been joking either. Melisande had almost lost an ear when she tried to approach him for another 'talk'.

"_Mother_ _dearest_ still can't get the fact that Lelouch is so far out of her league politically that there is no comparison possible between them." Milly replied bitingly, "She is going to do something stupid, something that will jeopardise what little power and prestige the Ashford Family has managed to retain since Lady Marianne's death."

"Agreed." Reuben said, "She has been seen meeting with numerous members of various criminal cartels in recent weeks, doubtless accruing favours from them by concealing their goods on Ashford Family properties, those old warehouses on the northern side of the Settlement for example."

"Even she surely wouldn't be _that_ stupid." Milly said in disbelief, "What _possible_ use could criminals be?"

"Ah Milly." Reuben smiled gently at his only grandchild, "Your mother has tried every legal way of ousting me, only to end in failure every single time. So now she is looking for an extralegal route…blackmail, assassination, extortion…that sort of thing."

"NO!" Milly shouted angrily, "I will not let her do this!"

The Ashford Heiress had been raised by a combination of her old nursemaid and her Grandfather. She loved him fiercely and had not even known who her mother and father had been until she had turned five and had disliked them both on first sight, her mother because of the way she talked like Milly was a pawn on a chessboard and her father because he obediently followed her mother around like a dog on a leash.

"Now, now Milly." Reuben said bracingly, "Did I say that I have done nothing to counter her moves?"

"Well…no…" Milly replied, "But...I don't see what can be done."

"You are still slightly naïve, my dear." Reuben chided her, "You see, I had foreseen Melisande would eventually become frustrated enough to turn to the cartels for aid almost since the very moment we set foot in Area 11. That is why, after everyone had a chance to settle in, I called a meeting of the heads of the cartels and bribed them to take any favours she offered, but not do a thing for her. Several of those Cartel heads are now acting as affluent businessmen as a result of what I offered them."

"But…but…" Milly was stunned that her grandfather would willingly consort with criminals, even to stop her mother, "What if the links that they have with the Ashford Family are revealed?"

"Ashford Family? Oh, they had no reason to believe that I am a member of the Ashford Family. I was not present at all. Rather, a man in my employ, a largely built fellow, sat behind a paper screen, while I watched via a hidden camera and spoke via a transmitter with a built-in voice scrambler." Reuben smiled as he recalled making those arrangements. It had made him feel young again as he set a plot up to eventually ensnare his daughter-in-law.

Milly started to chuckle. "You pulled the 'Mysterious Mister Mastermind' routine on them?" she asked in delight.

"The classics remain the best route sometimes." Reuben replied, dusting a non-existent piece of lint from his suit, "I put myself forward as an 'interested party eager to deal the final blow to the Ashfords' and they were only too eager to agree. They picked up suitcases of money from the warehouse where the meeting was held and they have received a similar amount every six months since."

"And…you actually _trust_ them?" Milly asked carefully.

"Heavens, no." Reuben chortled, "Several of them have tried to find out who I am via the courier services I use to deliver the money. To no avail, as I use several different cutouts between myself and the money, not to mention roundabout and convoluted methods of having the money gathered and distributed. No, I fully expect them to try and pull something, but for now, they are doing exactly what I want."

"That's a relief." Milly sighed, "So, what do you think we should do about mother's plans for marriage for me?"

Reuben sighed. "Regretfully, she had laid out your choices very clearly. I have no doubt that the Earl Asplund will be the one chosen to wed you should the negotiations go well. He has always desired the Ashford Family's original plans for the Ganymede, maybe even the actual unit itself, for himself.

On the other hand, you could always start to follow your heart and join Lelouch's bed with Sayoko and Miss Crossfield."

"GRANDFATHER!" Milly yelped as she flushed red at his blunt insinuation that she give herself to Lelouch. She had figured out that Sayoko had given herself to Lelouch at long last (it had been plain the maid had desired him for at least four years), as well as that he was also intimate with Celesta Crossfield.

A part of her _burned_ with jealousy that other women had moved in on the boy she had fallen for so long ago, but another part was happy for Lelouch. Happy that he had finally lowered his barriers enough to allow someone other than Nunnally into his heart.

"Lelouch would be too suspicious of what I could be doing if I tried that, grandfather." Milly said as she struggled to get herself under control, much to Reuben's amusement.

"Not if you were upfront and absolutely honest with him about your motives." Reuben countered, "He knows and trusts you enough to believe you when you are serious. Like how he trusts you to keep Theta Base a secret."

Milly scowled at her grandfather with that last dig. He had known about Lelouch's forays into the complex since the very first moment he had set foot in the place. He had also placed a backup server for the footage that went to the secret observation room, so Milly erasing the footage of Sayoko entering the facility in that Sutherland had done nothing but alert him that she also knew about it.

"Millicent let us speak frankly." Reuben said seriously, earning Milly's full attention. Her grandfather never called her by her full name unless he was about to be deadly serious about something.

"Yes, grandfather?" Milly said, heart pounding.

"Lelouch is Zero, isn't he." Reuben stated bluntly.

"He hasn't said as much." Milly replied, "But he _was_ the one who spanked Clovis like an unwanted stepchild in Shinjuku. I managed to get that much out of him. It's where he got his hands on that Sutherland that Sayoko had. As for Suzaku's rescue, the entire thing had Lelouch's fingerprints all over it; decisive, audacious, a touch reckless and above all, daring."

"An odd coincidence has just appeared." Reuben remarked, "Early this morning, Lelouch filed for time off for, at the very least, today, possibly tomorrow as well. Then a few minutes ago, the news began showing that Princess Cornelia has engaged in anti-terrorist activities in the Saitama Ghetto…surrounding it in a remarkably similar manner to how Prince Clovis surrounded Shinjuku."

"Oh god…" Milly breathed, "She's set up a trap for Zero…and Lelouch is walking _right into it_! What could he be _thinking_?"

"Lelouch did walk through the aftermath of the Gunma Massacre." Reuben said softly, "He cannot abide them, so Shinjuku would have been hard for him to endure. At the first hint of knowledge of such a thing happening, he will have moved to prevent it. Cornelia may not know it, but she used irresistible bait for this trap of hers."

Milly's worried expression grew deeper at Reuben's words.

"I have lived through more intrigue and bloody politicking than I care to remember." Reuben said quietly, "A few firefights as well, now I come to think of it, so I speak with the full weight of experience when I say this: life can be brutal and all too short at times. You have loved Lelouch since you were both children, you _still_ love him, regardless of your dalliances with various maids and students, and you are only hurting yourself if you continue to deny your true feelings, even more so if he continues to fight Britannia and ends up dead someday."

Reuben leaned forwards to lock eyes with Milly, who was paralyzed with shock at her grandfather's words. "Let me ask you something. If Lelouch were to die in Saitama, which would you regret more? His death or the fact you were not able to confess your feelings to him beforehand?"

Milly looked at her grandfather with tear-filled eyes and collapsed into the seat nearby as she felt fear and regret overcome her properly for the first time in years. Fear for Lelouch, regret that she had never been able to bring herself to tell him how she felt and even more fear that it might be too late for her.

Reuben stood up and rapidly walked around his desk to envelop his sole grandchild in a hug. She clung to him as she had not since she was a young child, frightened by the demons of sleep.

"Easy there, Milly." he whispered, "Lelouch is too smart to die in Saitama. He did promise you to be as careful as he could, remember?"

"…yes, but…but, he's going up against _Cornelia_!" Milly sobbed.

"Trust him, sweetling." Reuben muttered softly, "All we can do is trust him."

In the office, the teenaged woman and the old man held onto each other, one seeking comfort, the other giving comfort, both hoping for the safe return of one Lelouch vi Britannia.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Author's Note: Whew! Now that was irritating! In the last two days, I have had to proofread and repost forty chapters, including my Naruko story. I will now turn my attention back to the chapter I was writing before the Admins got all Anal about lemons. I will see about writing the next Prepared Rebellion chapter this time next week.**

**Later.**


	22. The Wages of Sin: Hubris

**Author's Note: Looking at the Story Page of Code Geass: The Prepared Rebellion V2 makes me want to cry in frustration. Before the Admins took down this story, it had over 333,000 views. Now it has fewer than 30,000.**

**Well, no use crying over spilt milk. Hopefully the views will start going up soon.**

**Read and review!**

**Disclaimer: Code Geass isn't mine.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Chapter 15: The Wages of Sin: Hubris**

**15 Minutes since Commencement of Operation Snake Pit**

**Outskirts of Saitama Ghetto**

Sir Harrison Oland moved his Sutherland Knightmare Frame forward at an easy walk rather than charging forwards like most young idiots who dared to call themselves Knights these days did, carefully scoping out every crossroad he came to before advancing.

The ruined city was far too quiet and there had been next to no contact with any of the Eleven populace. Oland's combat senses, honed in over a decade of service to Britannia and Princess Cornelia, were screaming at him that something was _not_ right here.

[PING]

His OS put a small window up, indicating they had just been hit with a laser flash. He activated the Factsphere Sensor and scanned the surrounding area, eventually finding a lone soldier waving at him from the top of the building.

"Why isn't he contacting me using his radio?" Oland muttered as he used his Slash Harkens to climb the building and expertly land a metre away from the soldier.

"**Soldier! Why aren't you communicating using your helmet radio?"** Oland asked via his Knightmare's loudspeaker.

The soldier reached up and tapped his helmet where the radio was located, using the universal sign for 'broken radio'.

"_Another_ one? Damn Clovis and his penny pinching." Oland grumbled. The former Viceroy had done something that every soldier throughout history has hated their commanders and civilian officials doing: hired the lowest bidder to make the various small, but vital, things that are absolutely necessary for soldiers on campaign. From field rations to shovels, from radios to emergency flares, the chosen manufacturer produced them all at a bargain price…and to absolutely _pathetic_ standards.

Thankfully, Princess Euphemia had not only broken the contract with the manufacturer, she was also suing them for breach of contract in failing to produce products that were up to the standard specified in the contract. Still, the inventories were full of the damn defective things and superficially, they looked exactly the same as the non-defective items. It would take quite some time to replace them, so they were stuck with them for the moment.

"**What is the reason you signalled me?"** Oland asked. The soldier held up a sealed dispatch case and pointed at it, then Oland's Knightmare.

"Sealed orders for me? At the start of a battle?" Oland frowned, "Princess Cornelia must have a special mission in mind for me."

He disengaged his Activation Key from the control interface and emerged from his Knightmare, using the boarding line to descend to the ground.

"Well, give me the orders then soldier!" he ordered imperiously.

"Certainly, sir." the soldier replied, before removing his helmet and fixing him with a look with his violet eyes, one of which had a red bird-like symbol in it.

"{Serve me}!" was the last thing Harrison Oland heard.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Lelouch's Perspective**

The soldier knelt before him and said, "Yes, Your Highness. Command me as you like."

"First, give me your Knightmare." Lelouch instructed. He had stashed his own Knightmare elsewhere after changing into his Britannian Footsoldier disguise. The first part of his plan started with showing Cornelia what she expected to see, so any suspicions she might have at the lack of activity in Saitama were assuaged.

"Of course." the soldier stood up and threw over his key, "The code is RX54R9F4. Please take good care of it."

"I will." Lelouch told him with a grin, "Now, what orders has Cornelia issued to you that are out of the ordinary?"

"None." the man replied, "We have merely been told to eliminate the terrorist group known as the Yamato Alliance by any means necessary, as well as eliminating any collaborators among the Eleven populace."

Lelouch frowned. As expected, Cornelia was keeping operational security tight, not even telling the higher-ranking Knights in her Mobile Battalion, like this one, about the actual plan.

"Have there been any unusual deployments?" Lelouch pressed, "Any odd stationing of Knightmares?"

"I was ordered to escort a trainload of twenty Sutherlands to the opposite side of the Saitama Ghetto. They have been left lightly guarded." the man replied.

"Was anything done to them to render them useless?" Lelouch asked intently.

"I observed explosives being placed in them, located in a hidden panel underneath the cockpit, right next to the IFF beacons. The engineer in charge told me they are set to remotely detonate upon receiving a signal from Princess Cornelia's Command G-1." the Knight replied.

"Very sneaky, Cornelia." Lelouch muttered. Had he not come across this information, he would have been completely blindsided by this at a crucial point in the battle, crippling his forces and forcing a retreat. "Are there any _other_ nasty surprises hidden in the Knightmares? Viruses in the OS? Faulty joints?"

"Not to the best of my knowledge." the soldier replied.

"So there _may_ be some." Lelouch mused, "Very well. Walk off the building."

As the man walked to his impending death, Lelouch mounted the man's Knightmare. Ignoring the sickening thud of the soldier's body striking the ground four stories down, the exiled prince altered the radio frequency to the one used by Kallen.

"K-1 to Q-1, over." Lelouch called after he put an auto voice synthesiser over the mic.

"_This is Q-1. Over._" Kallen responded at once.

"Q-1, send Mamoru-san and groups P-5 and P-6 to the other side of Saitama. There, they will find a trainload of Sutherlands. They are a trap from Cornelia, with explosives installed beneath the cockpit, right next to the IFF beacons. Mamoru's orders are to subdue or kill the guards, remove the bombs and sweep them for any other nastiness before deploying the Sutherlands against Cornelia's forces." Lelouch ordered.

"_Right._" Kallen replied, "_Oh! P-1 and R-1 are in position and awaiting your orders._"

"Excellent. I will need a moment to grasp the movements of the enemy, but send word to the Yamato Alliance to prepare for imminent battle." Lelouch directed his subordinate.

"_Right!_" Kallen replied enthusiastically, making Lelouch chuckle to himself as he switched his attention to the Knightmare, deciding to move it to a location out of sight while he pondered his next move.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Ten Minutes Later**

**Cornelia's Command G-1**

"Status report." Cornelia demanded.

"The Ghetto is apparently deserted, Your Highness." Dalton reported with a frown, "Aside from a couple of holdout incidents, there seems to be no sign of either residents or terrorists."

"Paladin team, change course to five-one-six." one operator ordered, almost bored by the lack of action.

"_Yes, My Lord. Moving to five-one-six._" the senior Knight on Paladin Team replied and on the screen, the two blue dots representing the two Knightmares swerved around to the left and started weaving between the rubble that remained of a line of old houses in the centre of the Ghetto.

"_No response at all._" the Knight reported with a snort, "_Cowardly damn Numbers must have fled with their tails between their legs. No sign of that Zero character either. I'll bet he turns out to be a no-show._"

"_Guess he's just another run-of-the-mill terror-AAAGGGHHH!_" his partner started to say, before shrieking in pain and anguish and the transmission cutting off at the exact same moment the two blue dots designating Paladin Team shifted to indicate their status as [LOST].

"Paladin Team, Lost!" the operator cried in alarm. Cornelia and Dalton whirled around in surprise. Two Sutherlands down in an instant? In an ambush?

"Looks like Zero has finally shown himself." Cornelia muttered.

'_The reason for the large delay in attacking was to lull my soldiers into a false-sense of security._' Cornelia thought angrily, '_And I sat back and let it happen!_'

"You!" she pointed at the spokesperson of Clovis' bridge staff, "Correct me if I am wrong, but did not Zero's intervention in Shinjuku begin with the ambush of two Knightmares?"

"That is correct, your Highness." the man confirmed grimly, "The only difference is that a red Glasgow was spotted making what Prince Clovis assumed was a feint beforehand, when it was merely the lure for the trap."

"Enemy Knightmare spotted!" another operator called out, "Image on screen."

A window popped up on the main screen of a crimson Sutherland with a rifle in one hand and a flagpole in the other, the proud symbol of Japan streaming behind the speeding frame.

"Looks like Zero has decided to taunt you, Captain." Cornelia remarked.

"Viceroy? I'm only a 2nd Lieutenant." the man replied in surprise.

"Not any more." Cornelia said, "Now, show me your best efforts in battling Zero!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" the man saluted her and set about extolling the rest of the bridge crew into moving their forces.

"This is very suspicious, Your Highness." Dalton said to her in an undertone, "The lack of the Eleven populous, the sudden ambush, the taunting Sutherland…Zero is playing with us."

Cornelia agreed with her Knight mentor's assessment as it jibbed very much with her own. Zero was making her soldier's dance to his own tune, conducting this battle as if it was a theatrical performance. She had no evidence of this yet, but she was a very experienced soldier and knew a set-up when she saw one.

"He must have evacuated the Elevens before we arrived." she muttered, her eyes narrowed in thought, "Aside from those few idiots that refused to move because they let their pride rule themselves. Humph. Such fools deserve the fate they bring on themselves. More to the point, he has likely taken the reins from the leadership of the Yamato Alliance as well, if he has any common sense. A war fought by committee is a war already lost."

"Just so." Dalton nodded, "So do we wait and see what kind of strategist he is?"

"For now, yes." Cornelia said, her eyes locked onto the screen, while her right hand caressed a black detonator with a blinking red light on it.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**At the Ambush site…**

"I don't believe it!" Tetsuya said in disbelief. He had been placed in charge of squad 'B-7' and ordered to wait for Zero to count down to, well, _zero_, and fire a pair of Anti-Knightmare Bazookas at the pair of Knightmares that would emerge and present their flanks to them at that time.

"They came! They really came!" one of his troops said excitedly.

"Just as Zero said they would!" added another.

Tetsuya frowned as he glared at the blazing wrecks that used to be Sutherlands. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. Zero wasn't supposed to show up with that redheaded half-blood bitch in tow and steal his glory!

"_B-7, move to area T-H-5 and await targets._" the voice of Zero came over the radio, making Tetsuya's scowl deepen. T-H-5 was a set of old office buildings not far from where they were right now, on the edge of what had once been the centre of Urawa City, which had merged with two other towns to form Saitama City a short decade before the Britannian Invasion.

"Alright, ya heard th' masked creep, let's move!" Tetsuya barked irritably.

"Tetsuya, you really shouldn't insult Zero." one of his guerrilla fighters said reprovingly, "If he hadn't offered us help, we'd be getting slaughtered right now."

"Shut up, ya slack-jawed idiot!" the angry man snarled, "C'mon. We can't let Kōzuki's group show us up in our own turf!"

The men under his command exchanged glances, mostly exasperated ones, at Tetsuya's childishness and spitefulness. The man was a meaner, stupider and altogether less pleasant version of Tamaki, who had beat the crap out of Tetsuya for running a Refrain racket in Naoto's Resistance Cell's area and then told Naoto about it.

Naoto had then proceeded to _further _kick Tetsuya's ass before throwing the man out of the group and warning him not to come back or they would shoot him. Tetsuya, full of bitterness and hatred, had joined the Yamato Alliance but had never risen high because even the Yamato Alliance, full of scum and the dregs of the former Japanese society, had drawn the line at supplying their own people with the addictive narcotic Refrain and Naoto had told the Alliance Council exactly _why_ he had thrown the man out.

'_So _what_ if I sold a few idiots Refrain? The country's gone to hell and there's no point imagining that resisting is gonna do anything other than get people killed._' Tetsuya thought angrily as he led his squad to their next location, '_The best thing to do is enjoy yourself to the fullest and do what you want. Japan's dead and hoping that it can change for the better is a fool's errand._'

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch**

"Hmmm…Tetsuya seems to be behaving himself…for now." Lelouch mused as he watched the dots indicating the various Knightmares, tanks and VTOL's move around.

Kallen had given him a condensed version of Tetsuya's history with her group and this had not impressed Lelouch any further than the overheard conversation between Kallen and Tetsuya had. The man was an opportunistic scumbag that wasted every breath of air he breathed.

Lelouch only reluctantly allowed him to lead group B-7 because it was a fairly expendable squad that he would be using as Anti-Knightmare/tank/VTOL support fire. Not a vital role at all and, more importantly, one that the idiot would be hard-pressed to cock up at.

"Ohgi, status report?" Lelouch asked.

"_All civilians willing to leave Saitama have gotten away via the underground tunnels._" Ohgi reported, "_I sent some of the guys to act as escorts just in case something happened. Was that OK?_"

"That was a very wise decision, Ohgi." Lelouch replied, "One I should have made an order in the first place, so thank you for covering my miss."

"_Th-thanks…_" the man sounded embarrassed for some reason.

"Moving on," Lelouch said, deciding to put the unusual embarrassment of his second in command to one side for the moment, "Move your remaining troops back to the extraction point and have the truck ready to head out at a moment's notice. I don't want to take any chances with Cornelia as our opponent."

"_Right, heading out now._" Ohgi replied, determination in his voice.

Lelouch smiled. Ohgi might not be a natural leader, but he was learning the ropes at a decent pace. A good leader can make an on-the-spot judgement similar to what Ohgi had just done and follow through with it. Most importantly, in order to _give_ orders, a good leader has to first learn how to _take_ orders, and Ohgi was very good on that front. A few more months and he'd make a very decent field commander.

"Mamoru-san, status update." Lelouch moved to his next priority, his armoured reinforcements. The light guard had been clubbed into unconsciousness, stripped naked and tossed into the river a while back, with C.C. standing guard over the proceedings.

"_Eh, these Brits have _really_ packed the space under the cockpits with some pretty nice plastic explosives, along with Sakuradite explosion enhancers and some detonators._" Mamoru replied casually, as if he were discussing a new car, "_We have five Sutherlands defused, with four more approaching that state. What do you want done with the explosives?_"

Lelouch considered that for a moment. "How much is there per Knightmare?" he asked.

"'_Bout a foot square per Knightmare._" Mamoru replied, "_There are some with a little less, some with a little more, but the amount is fairly consistent otherwise._"

Rapidly making calculations, Lelouch smiled an evil smirk as he came up with a plan for the useful gift his sister had given him. He outlined his plan to Mamoru, making the old martial artist whistle in admiration.

"_Remind me not ta get on your bad side, Zero._" he said before heading off to follow his new orders.

"Q-1, there are a pair of Knightmares laying an ambush for you around the next corner. Go over the building and educate them." Lelouch told his fiery subordinate, earning himself a snarl of anticipation from Kallen.

'_Now then, to predict where Cornelia will attack from with her Gloucesters…_' Lelouch pondered as he examined the map in front of him.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Kallen **

"I'm coming for you, you Britannian bastards!" Kallen snarled as she fired her new Sutherland's Slash Harkens at the top of the building, using them to rapidly rappel up the building.

She was still exulting over her new Knightmare. Zero had kept his word and given her a replacement for her old Glasgow. While not factory new, it was obviously well maintained and the fresh crimson paintjob had made her fall in love with the Frame as soon as she saw it.

'_No chances that _thisone_ will seize up on me at a critical moment._' Kallen thought darkly, recalling her disastrous first encounter with Jeremiah Gottwald. She was lucky to have read about the Marlinspike Manoeuvre in an old training journal she had stolen from one of her stepmother's lovers.

Kallen put it from her mind as her Sutherland crested the top of the building and she swiftly retracted the Slash Harkens before leaping off of the building, straight towards the unsuspecting pair of Sutherlands trundling along at a slow, even pace.

"Idiots!" Kallen snarled as her Battle Rifle barked three times, shredding the furthest one to pieces, the cockpit flying out as the Ejection System automatically activated.

The other Sutherland whirled around and started to bring up its own rifle, but Kallen sent out both of her Slash Harkens, one destroying the Rifle while the other took off a leg.

The Knight must have decided that discretion was the better part of valour, as he ejected his cockpit at the exact same moment that Kallen's Sutherland slammed down onto solid concrete again.

"Coward." she muttered.

"_Q-1, VTOL at one o'clock. Take it down._" Zero commanded, giving Kallen a thrill. She whirled around to one o'clock, raised her Battle Rifle one-handed again and snapped out two shots that sent the helicopter careening to the ground as a fireball.

"_Very well done, Q-1._" Zero complemented her, "_Now, continue your circuit of the encirclement and take down any and all VTOL's you see._"

"With pleasure!" Kallen grinned. She was so glad that Zero was her commander.

"Hmm? A Battle Tank? Get real!"

BANG!

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Cornelia's Command G-1**

"Logan Team, Lost!"

"Hawkeye Twelve, shot down!"

"Stopblock One isn't responding!"

Cornelia lounged on her Command Throne, calmly taking in the fast and furious casualty reports with the ease of an experienced commander.

"So, two Knightmares, a VTOL and a tank in less than a minute?" she asked Dalton casually.

"Yes Your Highness." Dalton replied.

"That pilot isn't too bad…for a mere Number." Cornelia conceded, "Once I decide to intervene, we will crush that Knightmare first."

"Just so, Your Highness." Dalton nodded in agreement.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Fifteen Minutes Later…**

**With Lelouch**

"R-1, R-2, fall back and lead them to N-2's position."

A flurry of dots indicating enemy forces moving in pursuit of the two light tanks that the Yamato Alliance had somehow scraped together.

"B-7, fire at two o'clock."

[Lost] Scratch one APC.

"P-5 Team, open fire straight ahead."

[Lost} Two Knights removed from the board.

Lelouch worked like a machine, targeting enemies for his troops to fire at while repositioning others to take advantage of the holes in the enemy's lines to set up new ambushes.

'_What is _taking_ Cornelia?_' Lelouch wondered idly while he set up an ambush for three enemy Sutherlands, '_She should have moved out long ago…_'

"N-2, fire Slash Harken to your upper right."

[Lost] one helicopter, wings clipped.

"R-4, fire at will."

[Lost] another APC in the scrap pile.

"N-1, eliminate the targets starting from the left."

[Lost] One Knightmare squadron, dismissed from play.

"Time for the climax. P-3, destroy the bridge and cut off their reinforcements."

[Lost] one column of twelve Knightmares, tanks and APC's taking a swim.

'_If that doesn't draw her out, I don't know what will._' Lelouch thought as he twirled a black king chess piece in one hand, '_Just to be safe…_'

"Q-1, move to the top of the building to your left and plant the flag."

"_Roger._" Kallen replied, confusion evident in her voice, but she still obeyed.

"Your move, Cornelia." Lelouch muttered.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Cornelia's Command G-1**

"Why that-!" the newly promoted captain was glaring at the image being beamed to the bridge by one of their few remaining VTOL's. The crimson Sutherland had climbed to the top of the building it now stood upon, an old broadcasting studio, and planted the flag it had held in it's hand into the roof.

'Here we are and here we'll stay' the gesture seemed to declare, the Elevens deliberately thumbing their noses at the Britannians.

"That's enough." Cornelia opened her eyes at last and motioned at the bridge crew, "Order all troops to fall back. Sustaining further casualties is pointless."

"But…Yes, Your Highness." the captain sighed in defeat and began issuing the orders, certain he was going to be reduced to private at the end of the day.

"You might want to assure him that he performed as well as could be expected to, Princess." Dalton spoke to Cornelia in an undertone, "He is likely certain he will be punished for his failure."

Cornelia shook her head in amusement. The captain had performed well, far beyond what she would have expected a former subordinate of her foppish younger brother to perform. He had remained calm during the entire thing and issued orders that had reduced the overall casualties somewhat. Had this been a typical battle against terrorists or even troops from the Euro Universe, he would have commanded the force to victory in all likelihood.

Instead, she had used him as a stalking horse, to lure Zero into a false sense of security and make him try to get close to her. She did feel -ever so slightly- bad about that, but all was fair in love and war, especially against terrorists.

"I'll tell him he's confirmed at his current rank after we apprehend Zero." Cornelia said quietly.

"And if he isn't ensnared by your net?" Dalton pressed.

"Then I will inform him of the same thing before I go out and _crush_ that upstart Eleven Knightmare pilot." Cornelia replied testily.

"As you wish, Your Highness." Dalton bowed.

"All Knightmares, tanks, APC's and VTOL's are en-route, Your Highness." the captain reported, "ETA for all forces to fully extract themselves from the inner Ghetto is five minutes."

"Very good. What is your name, Captain?" Cornelia said.

"James Mackenzie, Your Highness." the man replied nervously.

"I see…" Cornelia leaned back and closed her eyes again, "Inform me when all forces are fully withdrawn, Captain Mackenzie."

"Yes, Your Highness."

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Jeremiah, Villetta and Euphemia**

**En-Route to Saitama**

"What is our estimate time of arrival at Saitama, Margrave Gottwald?" Euphemia asked. She was ensconced in the heavily armoured APC that bore the emblem of the Area 11 Sub-Viceroy, as well as the Imperial Flag of Britannia.

Arrayed around it were an escort of ten Sutherlands that still bore the markings of the now-defunct Pureblood Faction, the guard unit that had 'conveniently' been scrapped together by Jeremiah when the Princess had stormed into her office with a look of fury in her eyes and demanded their help.

"_Approximately seven minutes, Your Highness._" Jeremiah replied over the radio, "_The reports I am receiving via the mil-net are…astounding. It seems Zero has dealt some serious damage to the Mobile Battalion under your sister's command, to the point she has ordered a withdrawal of all forces._"

"A _withdrawal?! _" Euphy gaped, "Was Sister commanding the troops personally or not?!"

"_Apparently, she was content to sit on her G-1's Bridge and leave it entirely in the hands of the Bridge Crew that were formerly stationed on Prince Clovis' Command G-1 during the Shinjuku Debacle._" Jeremiah reported.

"That doesn't sound like Cornelia." Euphy frowned, "She usually revels in the chance to charge forwards in her Knightmare, annihilating the enemy herself. Why would she be…?"

"_Was there anything in the briefing about what the Viceroy's plan was?_" Villetta asked from her Knightmare.

"No, nothing. Just the re-enactment of a massacre." Euphy shuddered at the thought, before something in Villetta's words struck her, "Lord Jeremiah, how is it suspected that Zero infiltrated my brother's Command G-1?"

"_He apparently took advantage of the disorganised perimeter and broken encirclement to infiltrate the temporary base in Shinjuku. That, combined with the lax security Prince Clovis tolerated, seemingly allowed him entry._" replied Jeremiah, "_You don't think…?_"

"I do indeed." Euphy replied unhappily, "Zero was right. She is trying to trap him, but it won't work. He knows better than to confuse Sister with Clovis, so her trap will fall flat, and when it does…Sister will try to root him out herself…"

"…_which is probably his goal the entire time, to turn the hunter into the hunted?_" Villetta finished for her, an odd note in her voice. A mixture of awe…and respect.

"_Should I radio ahead and warn Her Highness?_" Jeremiah asked Euphy.

After a moment of consideration, Euphy said, "No. If we do that, Sister will order you to return me to the Administration Building. We will simply have to trust that Cornelia's arrogance and conceit doesn't end up with her captured or worse."

Euphy looked sick as she spoke, but that was the truth of the matter. In her conceit, Cornelia had arrogantly assumed that she was Zero's next target, simply because she was the Viceroy and an Imperial Princess. Zero was instead only engaging her because she threatened the lives of innocent people and had even stated explicitly in his letter to her that he would not walk into Cornelia's trap.

'_Sister probably doesn't even consider it likely that Zero set a counter trap for her, she doesn't even consider it a possibility._' Euphy though in concern for her blood-sister, '_When she goes charging out to flush out Zero…she'll be walking right where he wants her!_'

"Lord Jeremiah, expedite!" Euphy ordered, "We have to get to Saitama as soon as possible!"

"_Yes, Your Highness!_" Jeremiah responded instantly, "_Kindly fasten your seatbelt if you have not already done so, Your Highness, as this will be a bit rough and tumble._"

"Ready." Euphy replied after following his instructions.

"_Very well. FOREWARDS! AT THE DOUBLE!_" Jeremiah roared the last part to all units under his command, who responded by accelerating their Knightmares from 'cruising' speed to 'double-time' speed instantly, the APC driver accelerating in pace with them.

"_New ETA calculated at four minutes, Your Highness._" Jeremiah informed her a little apologetically, "_I am afraid that is as fast as we can move._"

"Very well." Euphy nodded and sat back in her seat, her thoughts on her sister and the people of the Saitama Ghetto.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Three Minutes Later**

**With Lelouch**

"Simple, but clever." Lelouch mused as he used his captured Sutherland's optical magnification option on the Factsphere Sensor System to examine the Britannian forces from his perch on one of the few remaining high buildings in the Ghetto.

Every Knight had dismounted from their Knightmare, every tank crew had emerged from their vehicle and every VTOL had landed and disembarked. Officers from the G-1's were examining all the soldier's faces with their ID cards and then comparing them to the Slate of Organisation and Equipment to double check their identity.

All in all, a very thorough process to trap anyone who tried to infiltrate the Command G-1's perimeter like he had infiltrated the perimeter in Shinjuku.

'_A very good thing I was not stupid or arrogant enough to equate Clovis with Cornelia, despite the similarity in their lack of concern for innocent lives._' Lelouch thought darkly.

"_Hey Zero!_" Tetsuya's loud voice blared over the radio, "_Why ain't we attackin' 'em? They're helpless!_"

"No, B-7, that is merely what Cornelia _wants_ us to think." Lelouch replied firmly, "She has yet to deploy her personal force of Gloucesters into battle, which leads me to believe they are currently on overwatch, ready to sweep down and counterattack anyone stupid enough to attack the G-1's, which are also armed with heavy cannon, or had you _forgotten_ that little fact?"

"_Yer a bloody coward!_" Tetsuya sneered, "_I say we attack 'em and wipe the lot of them out!_"

"I am sure your comrades will place a fitting memorial on your grave, B-7." Lelouch replied dryly, "What say the rest of you? Do you all agree with B-7?"

"_N-1 Commander here. I agree with Zero._" Mamoru said firmly, "_Our goal here is to hold off the Brits so the people of Saitama can safely escape, not throw ourselves uselessly at the guns of the G-1's._"

"_P-3, concurs with N-1_"

"_R-1 also concurs with Zero._"

"_R-2 as well._"

"_N-2 here, I concur with the majority._"

As all the rest of the leaders of the various units chimed in, Lelouch sat back and smirked. Making promises and keeping them is the best way to win the loyalty of people.

"_Yer all a bunch of cowards!_" Tetsuya spat before the radio went silent.

"_This is B-7... Or, rather, the new B-7._" a new voice spoke up a moment later, "_Tetsuya has stormed off, yelling that he quits. Requesting orders._"

"_That idiot!_" Kallen snarled, "_K-1, Q-1 requests permission to bring the idiot in._"

"Denied, Q-1." Lelouch replied instantly, "You are a necessary part of the next stage of the plan. All units, anyone who catches sight of Tetsuya Ichigyōmon is to immediately take him into protective custody, as his loyalties are uncertain at this point."

A chorus of affirmatives came back at him, and then his gaze sharpened as he examined the scene on the screen.

"All forces prepare for a renewal of hostilities. The Viceroy herself is gracing us with her presence, so let us give her a warm welcome." he said with a feral grin.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Five Minutes Earlier**

**Cornelia's Command G-1**

"Hmm…." Cornelia looked at the screen that told her that her entire plan had just been a waste of time and resources. It listed every single soldier under her command and his or her status, Present, MIA or KIA.

"Zero has taken out only fifteen percent of our Knightmare forces." Dalton remarked, "Whereas he seems to have a grudge against our VTOL wings, only ten percent are still intact."

"He's clipping their wings because they are our eyes in the sky." Cornelia replied, "Our ability to overwatch the battlefield has been severely curtailed, meaning any conventional advance will have to be slow by necessity, as we will have to lay down suppressing fire to ensure what little airpower we have left is preserved."

"I believe, Princess, it is time you show Zero why you are called the Goddess of Victory." Dalton stated with a small smile, which Cornelia returned with a feral grin of her own.

"I leave command of the regular forces to you, Dalton, as well as the little surprise package I have in store for Zero." She said as she stood, placed the detonator in Dalton's hand and turned to leave before she paused.

"Captain Mackenzie." she said, making the poor man freeze before turning to her with the air of a man approaching the gallows.

"Y-yes, your Highness?" he asked hesitantly.

"Consider your position as Captain…confirmed." Cornelia said, "Dalton, make a note of it please."

"Consider it done, Princess." Dalton nodded at her as she strode from the Bridge and tried not to laugh at the poleaxed expression on Mackenzie's face.

"Easy now son." Dalton patted the man on the shoulder, "You impressed Her Highness, which is hard to do. Straighten up now, Captain. That's the ticket."

"B-but…I was…beaten by Zero…_again!_" Mackenzie protested.

"True, but you didn't just react on purely defensive knee-jerk instinct to every move that Zero made." Dalton told him, "Nor did you rant, rave and berate your subordinates like some people would have. You maintained your calm and _thought_ before you acted. Had you not, the casualties might have been even higher than they currently are. _That _is what impressed the Princess and earned you your rank permanently."

"R…Right." Captain Mackenzie shook his head to clear it, "Should we wait until Her Highness deploys her troops, or should we create a plan now?"

"We wait until her Highness has deployed, then work a plan around where her first target is." Dalton told him, "Taking due care to ensure that there is adequate spacing between the regular Sutherlands and the Princess' Royal Guards' Gloucesters. They move so fast that shots fired at them tend to miss and hit any Knightmare behind them."

"Are Gloucesters that fast?" Mackenzie asked in bemusement.

"No, they're that _agile_." Dalton explained, "Gloucesters are heavily remodelled Sutherlands that focus on close combat. In addition to the Knightmare Jousting Lances, they include several upgrades, including far more powerful servomotors in the legs and arms. Despite the armour being thicker than on a Sutherland, their ability to jump and dodge far surpasses the Sutherland by at least as much as the Sutherland outclasses the Glasgow."

"I _almost_ feel sorry for the terrorists." Mackenzie remarked, "Almost, but not quite."

"A _very_ frequent sentiment among soldiers under the Princess' command, lad." Dalton snorted in amusement.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Cornelia**

**Command G-1 Knightmare Hanger**

The Britannian Goddess of Victory strode into the Hanger, where the members of her Royal Guard, minus Dalton, stood arrayed and ready for deployment beside their Knightmares.

Cornelia smiled fondly at her Guard, all of whom had been handpicked by her over the past seven years. The only ones who were not here were the Glaston Knights, Dalton's adopted sons, who were finishing the resistance in Area 18.

"Alright men." Cornelia began without preamble, "It's time to show Zero what happens when you make the Witch of Britannia angry at you!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" her men roared and scrambled to their mechanical steeds.

Cornelia looked almost lovingly at her own Knightmare, a custom-built variant of the Gloucester designed with her skills and abilities in mind, replacing her custom Sutherland last year. The pure white cape was a lovely contrast with the vibrant purple of the Knightmare's body. The last sight of many enemies of Britannia had been this Knightmare impaling them with a golden Knightmare Jousting Lance.

'_Time to treat Zero to that last sight._' Cornelia smiled cruelly.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**At the Same Time**

**Tetsuya's Perspective**

"Fuckin' bastardised sons of bitches whore's bastards!" Tetsuya cursed under his breath as he dodged another one of his former allies' patrols. He hadn't counted on everyone deciding to hunt him down after he ditched their cowardly asses.

'_Fuckin' Zero. You'll get yours._' he thought bitterly.

To Tetsuya, this most recent upset in his personal and semi-professional life could be laid firmly at the feet of one masked vigilante. To him, if Zero hadn't turned up, he would have commanded the Yamato Alliance to a glorious victory over the Brits.

"Stealing my glory…ruining my name…masked coward…" Tetsuya muttered as he flitted from hiding place to hiding place. He had no clear destination in mind, except from 'away from the Britannians and his backstabbing allies'.

He slipped into a building and came across a disabled Sutherland that had been flung back through a couple of buildings and was lying on its side among the rubble. It actually looked to be in reasonable condition. There were no bullet holes in the chassis, the cockpit hadn't been ejected and it still had all four limbs. Hell, the Battle Rifle was lying not far away.

Tetsuya cautiously approached it and crept around to the cockpit. He reached out and touched a panel, which popped open to reveal the Emergency Cockpit Opening system that all Knightmares were equipped with.

"Hmm. The Yggdrasil Drive must be down if I can get at this." Tetsuya mused. He pressed the button, making the cockpit creak open, disgorging the unconscious figure of the pilot, who had a trickle of blood running down one side of his face from a large lump on his head.

"Great, how am I gonna use this damn thing without the access code?" the former resistance fighter groused. He dragged the man out, searched him from head to foot for any hint of the code, only to come up empty-handed.

"Fine, it's got to be the _hard_ way then." Tetsuya grumbled before drawing back his fist and punching the Knight into consciousness.

"Wha…? Urgh…Wh-who…?" the man groaned as he came to.

"Potentially your worst nightmare, bucko, so unless you want me to _definitely_ become your worst nightmare, give me the access code to your Knightmare!" Tetsuya hissed menacingly waving a butterfly knife under the man's eyes.

"E-Eleven…scum!" the Knight hissed, "OW!"

Tetsuya had swiped the knife across the man's cheek, leaving a thin cut that started to bleed slightly.

"That was your _only_ warning, Brit." Tetsuya said meaningfully, "Next time, I'll cut something off…and it _**will**_ be something you will dearly miss. Get it?"

The knife strayed down to point at the Knight's groin. The man paled, having clearly received the message.

"If…If I tell you the code, you won't kill me or maim me?" he checked.

"No profit in killing ya, Brit." Tetsuya said contemptfully, "I'm plannin' ta bag me a masked bastard. Now spill. The code. _Right now_."

"RX44R1G13." the Knight said reluctantly.

"See, now was that hard?" Tetsuya said as he folded his knife and put it away, "Now scram."

The Knight staggered to his feet and tottered out of sight, muttering curses the entire time. Tetsuya ignored him and took his seat, the automatic closing hydraulics sealing the cockpit shut.

"The Brit was so dazed, he didn't take the key!" Tetsuya cackled as he input the code. The screen lit up with the damn Britannian flag and ran through the auto-checks, with the Landspinners coming up as inoperable.

"Must have broken in the crash." Tetsuya mused before he grinned evilly, a fanatical glint coming to his eyes.

"I'm coming to get you…Zero!" he snarled.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Euphemia**

**Rear Perimeter of Saitama Encirclement**

"What part of 'Get out of the way' are you finding hard to understand, you simpleton!" Jeremiah snarled. He was standing on the ground glaring at a Knight who had stopped the small convoy.

"Viceroy Cornelia has ordered that no one is to enter the encirclement." the man repeated what he had been saying to Jeremiah in a bored monotone.

The aqua haired Margrave ground his teeth in frustration. This low-level Knight was being deliberately obstructive because the Purebloods were a defunct unit. Had they still been a recognised unit, the idiot wouldn't have dared stand in his way.

"Look, the Sub-Viceroy is in that APC there." Jeremiah said, calming his temper with a massive exercise of his self-control, "_Princess Euphemia _is in there, sitting in the middle of a war zone. Do _you_ want to be the one to explain to the Viceroy why an Eleven terrorist got lucky and _killed her blood sister?!_"

The rapidly paling face of the Knight indicated that this thought had not occurred to him until Jeremiah had told him it.

'_Idiot._' the Margrave thought in contempt.

"F-Fine. Her Highness and her escort may enter the encirclement." the Knight blustered as he backed off towards his own Knightmare, "M-Make sure she goes straight towards the Command G-1, no diversions!"

A vein pulsed on Jeremiah's head as he replied icily, "Where do you think she was going to go? Across the battlefield to have a chat with Zero? Don't be such a fool."

With that, he turned around, strode away from the spluttering fool of a Knight and remounted his Sutherland. After re-sealing the cockpit, he radioed Euphemia and said, "Princess, the idiot blocking our way ought to be moving in a moment. My apologies for the delay."

"_There is no need to apologise, Lord Jeremiah._" Euphemia replied sincerely, "_This was entirely outside of your control. We should inform my sister of his actions though. He had no right to block the way of an Area Sub-Viceroy._"

"I'll put in the report Princess Cornelia will no doubt demand of me after this." Jeremiah replied dryly, wincing slightly. Cornelia was going to try to flay him alive with her words alone after this, followed up by her sending him to bureaucratic hell soon afterwards.

"_Lord Jeremiah, the imbecile and his two stooges have moved their Knightmares to one side._" Villetta put in.

"Right, all units move out and keep a lookout." Jeremiah ordered, "Remember, this is a war zone, so if you see something moving that isn't squawking a friendly IFF, shoot first and ask questions later."

"_Yes, My Lord!_" came back at him over the radio as the small convoy advanced. As they moved, Jeremiah carefully keyed his radio to another frequency and clicked it three times, as his true liege had requested he do.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch**

The radio clicked three times, right about when he estimated they would, making Lelouch grin as he reached for his radio and clicked back three times in acknowledgement.

"K-1 to all units, be very careful." he said once that interruption was over with, "Gloucesters are _very_ agile and are easily able to dodge a couple of random shots from anti-Knightmare Bazookas, so all B-units are to avoid them. Concentrate on the Sutherlands, tanks and APC's. The same goes for all R-units."

A chorus of affirmatives came back at him. The exiled prince frowned when he noticed a lone dot steadily making its way towards him, slowly but determinedly.

"R-1, do you have eyes on the unit moving towards Point RB-4?" Lelouch queried.

"_Negative, K-1. Buildings are in the way. I have no eyes on that unit._" R-1 replied.

"Q-1, what about you?" Lelouch questioned.

"_Wait one…it's a Sutherland._" Kallen replied, "_It seems to be walking rather than using its Landspinners._"

"Odd." Lelouch frowned, then dismissed the lone Knightmare from his mind, "P-5 group, move to point RF-6 and commence bombardment at two o'clock for thirty seconds. After that, fall back to point RB-7."

"_Roger, K-1._" the commander of group P-5 replied.

"Now, let's see how Cornelia handles an enemy who refuses to meet her on her preferred terms." Lelouch muttered to himself.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Cornelia**

As she led her Royal Guard through the Ghetto, Cornelia was revelling in the sense of freedom she felt on the battlefield. No bureaucratic brownnosers trying to flatter her, no weakling nobility looking down their nose at her for being a soldier rather than a 'proper young lady' like Euphy was.

Here, none of that happened, or even mattered. On the battlefield, she was the Goddess of Victory, the Witch of Britannia, whom none had ever defeated, who mercilessly crushed all opposition beneath her heel without a second glance.

"_Still no sign of the enemy, Princess._" her second Knight, Guilford, reported from his own Gloucester next to her own.

"Humph." she grunted. She _hated_ it when the enemy played hide-and-seek with her. It was very boring having to root them out of strongholds and underground bases like clams from a shell. So…disappointing.

"_Princess, incoming fire from the right and above!_" Guilford shouted.

On pure instinct, she slowed down to almost a full stop before making her Gloucester leap to the side, narrowly avoiding a hail of bullets. Two of her Guard were not so lucky, one being hit with a Knightmare Bazooka round and the other shredded with Battle Rifle fire, forcing their auto-eject systems to activate and sending them to safety.

In her monitor, she caught sight of a group of four Knightmares retreating from the roof of the building in front of her and to her right. Growling at the sneak attack, she raised her rifle and was about to fire when another deluge of bullets rained down, this time from the left.

As she dodged this latest ambush, her quick and able mind cottoned on to the tactic that Zero was using. He knew very well that regular Sutherlands were no match for Gloucesters in a close urban setting, where the focus of the Gloucester on close combat worked to her advantage.

Instead, he was opting for a hit-and-run approach, slowly bleeding her Royal Guard down from a distance that worked to the advantage of the general purpose Knightmare.

"We'll see about that!" she hissed as she sped ahead, the cape of her Gloucester snapping in the wind behind her, followed by her Guard.

"Dalton, this Cornelia." she snapped into her radio, "Push the button and remind Zero that I am _not_ one to be played with!"

"_At once, Your Highness._" he replied.

A few seconds later, a series of loud explosions echoed across the city as her Knight detonated the hidden explosives in the Knightmares she had purposely left lightly guarded in the hopes Zero would find out about them and utilise them, just so she could scupper his forces like this.

Oddly enough, all of the explosions were coming from _behind_ Cornelia, which was odd.

"_Princess! Are you alright?!_" Dalton yelled anxiously, a rarely heard note of panic in his voice.

"Of course I am! What is the matter?" Cornelia barked.

"_Two blocks of the Ghetto has fallen into the ground!_" Dalton replied, "_The Command G-1 now has a large moat of sorts in front of it. We also lost about thirty tanks and Sutherlands who were in the area when the blast levelled the area._"

Cornelia cursed. "He must have discovered the hidden explosives and had some of his terrorist allies relocate them during the previous battle!"

She had wanted to block off the tunnels beneath Saitama to prevent Zero or any of the Yamato Alliance from retreating, but all of the _official_ entrances had been blocked off by rubble and debris from buildings and the like, meaning that the other entrances were either large holes in the ground or hidden entrances made by the Ghetto dwellers, so that attempting to do that would have been like King Canute trying to command the tides to stop; utterly futile and pointless.

"_But there wasn't nearly enough explosives to create this kind of destruction by themselves…_" Dalton mused thoughtfully, "_The terrorists must have pinpointed the weakest points of the underground support structure and then placed our explosives there, padded with accelerants and munitions of their own._"

"_Most likely._" Guilford agreed, "_Princess, we are dangerously exposed here. The Sutherlands and tanks that were supposed to provide covering fire for us have been mostly eliminated and if we remain here while the Sutherlands from the flanks come to reinforce us, we'll be picked off._"

"Then the choice is obvious." Cornelia snorted angrily, "We advance at best speed and take down Zero. That'll send the Number scum running."

"_In which case, it is a good thing that I think I have pinpointed Zero, Your Highness._" Dalton told her, "_One IFF signal has been continually broadcasting from the same position for almost the entire battle._"

"Zero!" Cornelia snarled, "He will watch as I take down his champion in the red Sutherland, then panic as I come for _him_!"

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Lelouch**

"Ah, she's giving in to her anger, just as I expected." Lelouch chuckled as the dots indicating Cornelia and her remaining Royal Guard shot forwards, straight towards Kallen's position.

'_Big Sister Cornelia always did have a low tolerance for being tricked._" the exiled prince mused. One time in the Aries Villa, he and Nunnally had tricked her into thinking there was an intruder in the palace. After a thorough search of the entire vi Britannia section of the palace, Cornelia had been in such a rage that the vi Britannia siblings had decided that discretion was the better part of valour and hidden from their half sister's wrath until she cooled down.

"Q-1, you have a royal guest approaching you." Lelouch spoke lightly into his radio, but he was entirely serious. Cornelia was one of the best Knightmare pilots in the entire Britannian Empire. Any slip on Kallen's part would result in her death at the hands of his sister. "Are you ready to give her an appropriately warm welcome?"

"_Damn right!_" Kallen replied determinedly. Only Lelouch's skill at reading people's voices allowed him, even through the bad connection of the radio, to hear the slight nervousness in her voice.

"Follow the plan I laid out for you and you have nothing to worry about, Q-1." he assured her, "B-7, B-5, B-6, are the preparations complete?"

"_B-7 here, all finished._"

"_B-5, all done._"

"_B-6, evacuating now, all orders completed._"

"Excellent." Lelouch said with a smirk, "Now-"

Lelouch was interrupted by a flurry of bullets that only barely missed his Knightmare. He instinctively looked at the monitor, seeing a single Sutherland pointing its Battle Rifle at him from the next building over.

"K-1 to all units, a single Sutherland is attacking me. I will take care of it, but in the meantime operational command is passed to N-1." Lelouch said calmly.

Then, a familiar voice crackled over the radio.

"_Hey there, you masked bastard! I'm here for your head!_" Tetsuya Ichigyōmon cackled at him.

"_Tetsuya, you traitorous _bastard!" Kallen yelled over the radio.

"_I ain't no traitor, you halfblooded bitch!_" Tetsuya snarled back, "_Thanks ta Zero stealing my glory, I ain't got any standing worth shit in the Alliance now and I aim to pay him back in spades for that!_"

"Kallen, ignore him and follow the plan I outlined to you earlier." Lelouch ordered as he made his Sutherland draw its Battle Rifle, "N-1, keep everyone on task and withdraw the Alliance after the implementation of the plan. K-1, out."

"_Roger, K-1. Best of luck._" Mamoru replied, "_Tetsuya…if K-1 doesn't kill you, the rest of the resistance will show you how we deal with traitors._"

After the radio fell silent, the two captured Sutherlands just looked at each other for a moment, their pilots waiting for the other to make the first move.

"Well then, Tetsuya." Lelouch said with a frown, "Let's dance, shall we?"

"_**Bastard!**_" the former Resistance fighter roared and sent another burst of badly aimed rifle fire at him, which was easily dodged.

Lelouch settled in to play for time. He had piloted Knightmares, in simulations and in real life, but he had only fought in combat twice, both times in Shinjuku and you could not really call either of them proper combat.

The first had been an ambush on Jeremiah while he was concentrating on Kallen's Glasgow, while the second was taunting, and then running away from, the Lancelot.

'_I really hope Mamoru paid attention to my plan._' Lelouch thought, '_Everything is in his hands now. I have my own problem to deal with._"

With a burst of Battle Rifle fire, Lelouch vi Britannia entered battle with a snarl oh his face that his sister Cornelia would have been proud of.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Kallen**

"Damn that traitorous bastard!" Kallen cursed.

How _dare_ he proclaim himself not a traitor after he abandoned his team and now assaulted Zero? The man must be touched in the head to think he might get out of this in one piece.

"_Now, now Kallen-chan, focus on the here and now._" Mamoru chided her over the radio, "_Zero sounded like he had things under control._"

"I know, but I still can't believe even Tetsuya could be as stupid as he is being right now!" Kallen hissed back, "He was always like an evil version of Tamaki, but this is a bit much, even for him!"

"_From what I've gathered, he's been on the verge of being kicked out of the Yamato Alliance for a while now, Kallen-chan._" Mamoru replied sombrely, "_He's been insubordinate, frequently drunk or high on narcotics and has brawled with his fellow resistance members. There have even been rumours that he has been playing around with a batch of Refrain, trying to improve the potency. He seems to have sampled his wares and it must be twisting his perceptions enough to blame Zero for all the wrongs in his life._"

"Tch. Damn pathetic bastard." Kallen growled in disgust.

"_I would tend to agree, but you have Cornelia approaching you from twelve o'clock. We can rehash how pathetic Tetsuya is as a human being once you have royally spanked Her Royal Highness._" Mamoru said pointedly.

"Roger that." Kallen said, before a thought occurred to her, "Q-1 to Aegis."

"_Aegis here._" the synthesised voice of Zero's bodyguard chimed in at once.

"Aegis, have you been keeping up to date with what has been happening on the battlefield?" Kallen asked while her eyes never wavered from the screen that showed Cornelia's rapidly incoming Knightmare.

"_Yes I have. Do you have orders for me?_" Aegis asked.

"Am I allowed to?" Kallen asked.

"_Goshujin-sama has named you as his third in command. You may order me to do as you like, so long as none contradict Zero-sama's orders._" the masked woman replied.

"Fine. Zero is under attack right now. Take his Knightmare and go help him!" Kallen ordered.

"_As you wish…my lady Red Queen._" Aegis replied, before going silent.

Kallen found herself blushing at the way the masked female had called her 'Red Queen'. She seemed to be insinuating something. The redhead put it from her mind as Cornelia began her final approach on the building, flanked by her Royal Guard.

She noticed that the Knightmare to Cornelia's immediate right was painted a more vibrant purple than the regular Gloucesters, outdone only by Cornelia's own Knightmare in terms of vibrancy, so she guessed that that one was one of her two personal Knights that she had been seen with.

The half blood girl smiled coldly. It was time to knock these royals off their pedestals.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**Three Minutes Previously**

**With Cornelia**

"_Princess, there is movement from the Knightmare we suspect to belong to Zero._" Dalton reported, "_He seems to be in ranged combat with a lone Sutherland._"

"One of the Knights that was knocked out during the last clash managed to locate Zero?" Cornelia asked with a raised eyebrow. She was closing on the last stretch to the old broadcasting building, but she could spare the attention, as there seemed to be no ambushes after the first couple.

"_Negative, all we got when we tried to contact the pilot was an earful of verbal abuse before the channel was changed._" Dalton replied, "_I think an Eleven is trying to kill Zero for reasons of his own._"

"_Elevens_. No loyalty at all." Cornelia sneered, conveniently forgetting Suzaku Kururugi's loyalty to Britannia, not to mention that this was one person attacking him, out of every soldier on the masked man's side of the battlefield.

"_I believe that we can safely say that Zero will be too busy to form any plans or strategies against us until he deals with his opponent._" Dalton said. Cornelia agreed. It was the next best thing to impossible to engage in Knightmare combat whilst simultaneously directing the flow of battle, so most generals had to chose between being strategic generals or combat generals.

Cornelia was lucky to have Dalton to serve as her strategist while she took to the field; otherwise, she would not have seen the outside of a Command G-1. The number of Britannian officers that had a decent grasp of strategy and tactics was actually truly abysmal; certainly, those who had been assigned to her after she went on campaign had been idiots of the lowest order.

"Good. We can crush his forces then move on to him." Cornelia said decisively, "How are the reinforcements coming?"

"_I have dispatched three teams of Sutherlands to assist you, Your Highness._" Dalton replied, "_As they are forced to take a circuitous route around the new 'moat' that has been made in front of the Headquarters, it will be at least five minutes before they are able to aid you. Please be careful in the interim._"

"The Elevens are the ones who need to be careful around me!" Cornelia replied with relish as the small band of Knightmares she led rounded a corner and had a clean run up to the building, "Let's see how this red Knightmare handles a Gloucester as an opponent!"

A crackling on the radio made her frown. Someone was aligning his or her radio to her frequency, which was odd. Her frown deepened as a female voice spoke up, a mocking lilt clear in her voice.

"_Cornelia li Britannia. Withdraw your forces from Saitama. You have lost._" The woman was blunt and to the point, something Cornelia appreciated as it allowed a clear rebuttal.

"Listen, Eleven scum, I have not lost." she shot back even as her Knightmare closed on the tower, "In fact, I have barely even begun to show you peons what I am capable of!"

"_The louder you bark, the weaker you appear._" the woman mocked, "_The residents of Saitama have fled, the Yamato Alliance has barely been scratched and you and your toy soldiers are completely isolated from your main body of troops for the next five minutes at least. Face facts, you have lost. Withdraw with some shreds of your dignity intact or we will send you scurrying with your tail between your legs. This is your last chance._"

Fury was coursing through Cornelia's veins as the woman spoke, disbelief warring with rage in her mind. An _Eleven_, a lowly _Number_ was daring to mock _her_? She was _daring_ to speak to an Imperial Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire as if she was an _equal_?

"I shall make you regret daring to have the temerity to speak to me in such a fashion!" she growled into the radio.

"_You refuse then? Oh good, I thought you might._" the voice sounded positively gleeful, "_Red Queen, that's your cue. Checkmate her._"

"'Red Queen'? What the devil…?" Cornelia muttered, "That red Sutherland's pilot has such a fanciful code name?"

She zoomed in on the top of the building where the Sutherland stood and examined it minutely. It stood ready to either dodge or charge at a moments notice, the Battle Rifle held in one hand, while the other…the _other_ hand held a Chaos Mine that it had probably just drawn from the hip compartment.

'_So that's her plan. Wait until we get close, and then throw the Chaos Mine at us._' Cornelia thought with contempt, '_Well unfortunately for _you_ 'Red Queen', my Knights are all easily able to avoid such a weapon. The Chaos Mine was developed to rip apart slow moving or immobile targets, like standard Battle Tanks or crippled Glasgows, not nimble targets like Knightmares, especially Gloucesters!_'

"Guilford, you take half of the Royal Guard and give me covering fire while I take the other half and assault this pretentious fool on her ivory tower." Cornelia ordered briskly.

"…_Yes, Your Highness._" Guilford agreed reluctantly. He knew better than to try to argue with her when she got that tone in her voice.

"Move out!" the Princess ordered. Her Guard smoothly split into two columns, three moving behind Guilford towards the nearby buildings so they could scale them with their Slash Harken, and the remaining two flanking Cornelia as she closed on the old building where the red Knightmare stood and fired her own Slash Harken as high as she could aim them.

As the rocket propelled anchors sank into the building and the auto-retracting system pulled her and her Knights up the building, Guilford and the other three members of the Royal Guard reached the top of the neighbouring building and raised their rifles at the Sutherland that was still a few stories higher than they were, only to see it replace the Chaos Mine in the hip compartment and leap to another building, making Guilford's danger sense start to scream at him that something was amiss.

"_Princess! It is a trap! Retreat!_" he said forcefully.

Cornelia was headstrong, but not foolish. When her usually calm and composed Knight was _that_ insistent, something was worrying him severely. She was about to order the two Knights with her to retreat when…

[B-B-BOOM!], [B-B-BOOM!], [B-B-BOOM!]

What she at first thought was merely _three_ explosions -she later looked back at the footage from the Guilford's Knightmare and recognised them as actually being a great _many_ explosions occurring simultaneously- rocked the interior superstructure of the building she was climbing and, with an almighty groan, it began to collapse, tumbling down towards the side she was ascending.

"_PRINCESS!_" Guilford yelled.

"_SISTER!_" a familiar voice shrieked over the radio.

"Euphy?!" Cornelia was agape with astonishment at the unexpected presence of her sister nearby.

"_Your Highness!_" cried her two Royal Guards as they grabbed her Knightmare and, with a mighty heave, threw it high into the air, where Cornelia hastily retracted her Slash Harkens and fired them at the closest building, taking her safely out of the shadow of the collapsing building.

She turned just in time to see her faithful and loyal Guardsmen's Knightmares being smashed to pieces by the falling rubble. In saving her, they had doomed themselves.

Cornelia li Britannia let loose a howl of angered frustration as two of her Guard perished in her place.

**LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**

**With Euphemia**

**Bridge of the Command G-1**

Euphemia li Britannia breathed a sigh of relief as her sister made it out of the trap that had been laid for her, albeit at the cost of the lives of two of her Royal Guard.

"Sir Dalton, please have the men who just saved the Viceroy's lives put in for posthumous commendations." She said quietly.

Dalton nodded, his eyes questioning why she was here as he replied, "As you command, Your Highness."

That taken care of, Euphemia, sat at a seat hastily vacated by a bridge staff officer, breathed in and out slowly before she spoke into the radio again.

"Viceroy Cornelia, you are ordered to return to base immediately." she said firmly, a hint of previously unheard steel in her voice.

"_Wha- _Ordered_ to return? By what authority do you command me, Euphemia?_" her sister asked in a quiet, dangerous tone, "_Two of my Guard are _dead_ and you want me to _pull back_?!_"

"Sister, I received a note from Zero. In the Viceroy's section of the Area 11 Administration Building." Euphy said calmly, emphasising the fact that their previously impenetrable citadel had been breached, "He knew of what you were planning here today. He even told me why you were doing it. From the instant that you set foot in Saitama, you were dancing to his tune, and look at what you have wrought! It will take a month of production to replace the Knightmares we lost, never mind the VTOLs."

"…_he _breached_ the Administration Building?!_" Cornelia sounded appalled, "_That should be impossible!_"

"For a person, perhaps. Not for a small letter devoid of any explosives or any other foul play." Euphy said simply, "More importantly, you have been deceived by Zero this entire time, Sister. Face facts; Britannia has lost today. By now, Zero and the Yamato Alliance will have withdrawn. There is nothing more to be gained here today. Pull back and I will give you a full briefing on what transpired and the letter that was sent to me."

Before Cornelia could reply, a transmission came up on the bridge's man screen. A woman wearing slivery armour like a knight, with a one-eyed white mask, stood imperiously before an equally silver Sutherland.

"_Hear me Britannians._" the woman spoke, her voice blurred by a voice changer, "_I am… Augur._"

"Augur?" Euphemia said in confusion. An Augur was someone in ancient times who supposedly divined the will of the Gods by taking auguries. She was yanked from her thoughts by Augur's next words.

"_You all who foolishly charged here to cause mass murder, you all who showed such disdain for life, hear this and be ashamed: Lord Zero was not upon the battlefield this day._"

"Impossible!" Dalton breathed in shock.

"_My Lord did not deem you worth his time, Cornelia li Britannia._" Augur continued disdainfully, "_He easily caught word of your plan and saw your _true_ intention within seconds of being told of it. He dispatched me to aid the Yamato Alliance and, as you can tell, I defeated you utterly. Weep in rage and frustration, Witch of Britannia, for you have lost on this day. You never even stood a _chance_._"

"_Find her! Now!_" Cornelia roared through the radio, "_I will kill her!_"

"_I now bid you farewell, Britannians._" Augur said dismissively, "_I feel no need to bully the _weak_…unlike yourselves, it would seem. In victory, one must be gracious, after all._"

With those words, the image blinked into darkness. The bridge was silent, broken only by the muttered curses of the bridge staff, who were working to try to find the source of the signal.

"Sir Dalton, the signal's been lost." one staff officer reported, "It was heavily encrypted and bounced via at least twenty routers all over the surrounding area before being beamed here. We did our best, but it was just resilient enough to delay us in tracing and triangulating the source for…Augur…to end the broadcast."

Dalton nodded tersely. "Noted. Log the encryption set up so we can more easily break through it when we run across Zero -and Augur- again."

The officer nodded and began to follow his orders as Dalton leaned forward and contacted Cornelia again.

"Princess…we lost the signal." he reported, "It appears there is someone of moderate skill in signal encryption on the enemy's side. It delayed our staff just long enough for Augur to get the last word in and end the broadcast."

"…_I see._" Cornelia replied almost resignedly, "_Is there any sign of the Knightmare we thought was Zero's?_"

"No." Dalton replied after consulting the battle screen, "According to the battle recorder, both Zero's Knightmare and the one he was fighting vanished almost simultaneously just before Augur began her broadcast."

"_Very well._" Cornelia paused before sighing and said, "_Call all troops back and begin recovery operations. Have the wounded sent to the med-bays and send…send the field mortician to where my Guard fell in my service. I have my remaining men unearthing their Knightmares as we speak. Euphy, you are in charge of the G-1 until I return, then we will have _words_ about you coming into a combat zone without my permission._"

"**Indeed** sister." Euphy replied sweetly, "We will _also_ have words about your blatant neglect of your duties as Viceroy of Area 11 and purposefully attempting to deceive me about what you were trying to do here, again in violation of your duties as Viceroy."

The silence in the bridge was so thick it could be cut. Every eye was on Euphemia in shock, horror and disbelief as the pinkette practically laid the grounds for removing her sister as Viceroy if she so wished. Dalton looked like he was choking on something, his eyes bulging at the Princess in an approximation of terror.

"…_Euphy…_" Cornelia sounded surprised and hurt by her blood-sister's words; Euphemia had never spoken to her elder sister like that, with such accusatory and harsh words. "_It seems we will have a lot to talk about. Cornelia, out._"

Euphemia li Britannia shuddered as the connection went dead. She had just taken the first step to at least tempering Cornelia and her running roughshod over her and the Eleven populace. The confrontation in person would be even tougher for her as Cornelia would fall back on her tried and tested defence that 'it was for her own good' that she didn't know about Operation Snake Pit.

Cornelia had always held the morale high ground in every previous confrontation before this due to her position as Euphemia's legal guardian and rank of general. This time, however, it was not the mere matter of her sister violating her privacy. She had wilfully conspired to keep Euphemia, the Sub-Viceroy, unaware and uninformed about a military action within the boundaries of the Area, a clear violation of not only protocol, but of Imperial Law as well.

Euphy straightened up. _This_ time, it would be different. She would _not_ bow before her sister in _this_ matter. Not when innocent lives could be affected by the outcome of the confrontation.

Quickly and efficiently, she began to organise the recovery effort, dispatching work crews to find and drag back the shattered remnants of Sutherlands, other Sutherlands to aid in moving rubble, and reorganising the first aid tents, which were set up for very, _very_ light casualties only at the moment.

Andreas Dalton observed his Lady's younger sister closely. Compared with the young girl who he had first met years ago, he knew that she had matured both physically and mentally. It had only been a matter of time before she rebelled against Princess Cornelia's stifling protection. It was a sad coincidence that it had been over such a distasteful subject that, as much as he hated to admit it, Euphemia had every right to tear a strip off Cornelia for.

"Sir Dalton, kindly take charge of the first aid section." Euphemia said, breaking him out of his thoughts, "I have directed additional supplies and manpower directed there but they seem to be confused as to what to do and when. They need strong leadership down there."

"Understood, Your Highness." Dalton nodded. He knew that this was likely make-work designed to get him off the bridge. If she couldn't trust her own sister, that logically meant she couldn't trust her sister's _Knight_ either. A sad, but understandable, state of affairs.

As he turned to leave, he noticed the two Knights who had escorted Euphemia onto the bridge, Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald and Dame Villetta Nu.

He headed towards the entrance they flanked and spoke in an undertone to them, "Why did you bring her here?"

"Would you rather we let her charge off on her own?" Jeremiah responded, "Her Highness would have left with or without us. At least this way, she wasn't shot by an Eleven terrorist on route."

"True." Dalton admitted begrudgingly, "I doubt that the Viceroy will see it quite like that, however."

"True, but in the short term, Princess Cornelia will have bigger things to concern herself with than us." Villetta pointed out with a slight smirk, "And, by the time Her Highness turns her attention to us, she'll hopefully have cooled off."

"Fairly likely." Dalton conceded. Although Cornelia could hold one hell of a grudge, in this case the two Knights were caught in a difficult situation. Ether they helped Euphemia to the battlefield and guarded her as they did so or they let her go off on her own, with the full possibility that something terrible might happen to her as she traversed a war zone. They had chosen the lesser of two evils and Cornelia would be forced to recognise that. Still…

"You will still be punished." he warned them.

"As long as Their Highnesses are safe, Princess Cornelia may punish me as she likes." Jeremiah said diffidently.

Dalton nodded again and walked out of the room, heading for the onboard medical centre. He knew that Jeremiah still felt guilty and responsible for the death of Lady Marianne, still wished he could have done something, anything, to alter her fate. When Euphemia had declared her intent to come to Saitama, with or without him, his own sense of honour had forced him to take the only option that it saw as right.

It was with heavy heart that Sir Andreas Dalton, Personal Knight to Second Princess Cornelia li Britannia, stepped into the medical centre. Every bed was full of wounded soldiers and Knights, with medical personnel running between them as they attempted to triage the patients in order of serious to mild injuries.

Dalton sighed. Without a doubt, the Goddess of Victory had finally been defeated on this day.

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**Next Chapter: A Tale of Two Sisters**

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**Author's Note: Don't worry, I'll be putting Lelouch vs. Tetsuya in an Interlude, so you'll see what happened.**


	23. Interlude:Tarnished Knight vs Black King

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass.**

"Kallen"-Speech

'_Lelouch_'-Thought/mental communication

"{Die}"-Geass Command

"**Halt!****"**-Loudspeaker

"_Roger._"-Radio/Walkie-Talkie

**Interlude 4: Tarnished Knight vs. Black King**

Tetsuya cursed as the slippery bastard dodged his Battle Rifle's bullets again. Zero hadn't even fired a single bullet in return, just dodged and moved between buildings using his Slash Harken.

"Damn you!" he barked though the radio, "Stop dancing and fight me like a man!"

"_Coming from someone who tried to blindside me that really isn't convincing._" Zero replied. The bastard sounded amused by him!

"Dammit!" Tetsuya snarled and fired another burst of fire at the purple Knightmare, which just dodged him again.

The rogue Japanese man wished he hadn't been off selling Refrain when Naoto had held a training session on how to use a Glasgow. As the controls for both the Sutherland and the Glasgow were similar, that would have been really useful right now.

All the experience that Tetsuya had was operating civilian Knightmare Frames, and they had very different controls. No Landspinners or Slash Harken for a start. Moreover, the Battle Rifle had one bitch of a recoil.

'_Whatever. I'll kill the bastard one way or another._' Tetsuya thought as he lined up another shot, '_The bastard's a chicken. He hasn't even bothered to return fire since that first one. Cowardly bastard._'

Lelouch, on the other hand, was using this opportunity to fully acquaint himself with how a Sutherland operated in combat. Simulations were all very fine and dandy, but actual combat was a whole other kettle of fish, so much so that it was common to refer to a person's first actual combat as a trial by fire.

The lucky ones passed, keeping their lives. The less said about those who failed the better.

'_That should be enough of a warm-up._' Lelouch thought with a smile, '_Time to teach this idiot a lesson in manners._'

He fired his Slash Harken into the next building over and used it as a swing as he had been doing for the last couple of minutes. This time however, he swung towards Tetsuya, catching him off guard and allowing Lelouch to aim his own Battle Rifle at Tetsuya's Sutherland.

It barked once, twice and thrice, each single shot slamming into the desired target that had been aimed for. First, Tetsuya's rifle was destroyed, swiftly followed by severe damage to both elbow joints, making the lower arm parts flop uselessly.

"_Damn you! What the hell are you?!_" Tetsuya bellowed in rage and panic, "_No one could aim and shoot while swinging in midair like that!_"

Lelouch grunted as his stolen Knightmare slammed onto the same building that the traitor had occupied this entire time. Britannia really had to invest more money into improving the shock absorbers. His tailbone had been jarred by that landing.

"Kindly don't put me on the same level as yourself, Tetsuya-san." Lelouch replied coldly in Japanese, "Unlike you, I've actually trained for combat."

"_Bastaaaard!_" Tetsuya roared as he fired the only weapons left to him with his arms disabled; his Slash Harkens. Fortunately for Lelouch, the previous pilot of his Sutherland had had Stun Tonfa equipped to the Knightmare, which he used to block one of the jet-propelled anchors after dodging the other one.

Lelouch quickly fired his own Slash Harken before Tetsuya could retract his ones, smashing the auto-reeling systems into scrap metal before Lelouch retracted them.

Tetsuya was in shock. In less than two minutes, he had been literally disarmed. He was totally helpless before Zero.

'_Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit!_' Tetsuya cursed as he did the only thing he could do in this situation: run. Without Landspinners though, Zero's Knightmare caught him easily, smashing the legs of his Knightmare with the Stun Tonfa.

"Fuck!" Tetsuya snarled as he pulled on the leaver that should activate his last hope, the ejection system. However, nothing happened. He looked at the screen and saw an error message stating that the ejection system was damaged to the point of inoperability.

"FUCK!" Tetsuya bellowed, slamming his hands onto the console helplessly. He was trapped inside his cockpit, which immediately began to feel like a prison…or a tomb.

Lelouch glared at the image on the screen, wondering why Tetsuya hadn't activated the ejection system. Recalling Kallen's report that the Landspinners had been damaged, he deduced that Tetsuya had come across a seemingly lightly damaged Sutherland from the first part of the battle and had coerced the access code from the former pilot.

Evidently, it had been damaged worse than it first appeared, crippling the traitor's ability to flee from him.

Now Lelouch had to decide what to do with him. Tetsuya was a fool, but his death could be useful if he played it right. The Yamato Alliance had acted with more discipline than he had expected, likely to do with Mamoru's influence, so it would be to his advantage if he could mould them into the beginnings of an army.

Killing Tetsuya here would be satisfying and he doubted anyone in the Yamato Alliance would argue that the foolish man didn't deserve it. The more intelligent thing to do however would be to make them judge and sentence him.

By doing that, he would show that he cared for justice to be done, rather than simply killing him out of hand, which would appeal to the members of the Yamato Alliance that cared about justice, as well as those who were just the other side of shady, who would be reassured he wouldn't similarly kill them for some misdemeanour.

Reluctantly, the exiled prince decided to let the maggot live. For now.

"Tetsuya, this is Zero." he said coldly, "If you wish to live past today, open the cockpit and step out. Do not attempt to run, or you'll be dead before you take four steps. If you do not emerge in five minutes, I will kill you in your cockpit."

As he waited for the idiot to emerge, he absently deactivated his IFF beacon and broke the IFF on Tetsuya's machine with a well-placed swipe of a Stun Tonfa.

"Ah, there he is." Lelouch breathed as the cockpit hatch creaked open and a sour looking Tetsuya Ichigyōmon emerged and glared up at the Knightmare that towered over him.

Lelouch was surprised when his black Sutherland landed on the roof and levelled its own Battle Rifle at Tetsuya. Only one person could sneak up on him with this kind of ease, even in a Knightmare.

"Aegis? I do not recall ordering you to come to my aid." Lelouch said in a resigned voice.

"_I was ordered to aid you by the Red Queen, Goshujin-sama._" Sayoko replied with a hint of mirth in her voice, "_She seemed very concerned for your safety; concern that seems to be ill-founded, it would seem._"

"Just so." Lelouch fought down the urge to blush at the thought that Kallen had been worried about him, and then turned his attention back to Sayoko, "Grab the traitor. We'll head back to the rally point as best speed."

"_By your command._" Sayoko replied as she grabbed Tetsuya without hesitating, making the man draw his pistol and pull the trigger. To Lelouch's surprise, it worked fine, but the low-calibre bullets bounced off the Sutherland's armour.

"**Kindly don't bother shooting my Knightmare, Tetsuya-san.**" Lelouch recommended over the loudspeaker, "**All you will accomplish in doing so is scratching the paintwork.**"

Tetsuya screamed and ranted in a positive frenzy after that.

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End file.
